Another Time, Another Route
by ShuMonoOuma
Summary: Kiritsugu adopts Shirou as per usual, but teaches him how to use magic. Just what will happen next?
1. Chapter 1: The Fire

Chapter One: The Fire:

"It's hot... The air around me is stuffy. I can hardly breathe, my lungs are filled with smoke. I just have to keep moving, I need to save someone. Who am I trying to save? What was their name? Who am I? What was my name? Shirou... Shirou... I can't recall. What was my name? What am I trying to save? I don't know anymore." The boy, walking through the rubble and fire, his lungs hardly working, his arms numb, his legs in agony. Still, he walked on, searching for someone or something he couldn't recall. All around him, he heard screams, one was not of pain or fear, but sounded more like it was mourning, it was near but yet was far away. Eventually, the boy collapsed, his legs unable to take the burden of holding his body off the ground. He slowly began to let the cold take him, maybe he would stop feeling pain then. "Am I going to die? If I do, will I find that person? I don't know." He drifted into unconsciousness as the debris fell around him.

o.o.o

The man screamed, his heart exploding with pain and regret. All around him, destruction and death, the likes he had seen and yet had never seen before. A massacre that he had created, a dream that he once lived for, creating a fiery hell that consumed life around him, life that he wanted nothing more than to protect, was now killed by his hand. The man screamed, everything lost to him, surrounded by the smog and mud of something that was inherently evil. He desperately searched for survivors, clawing through hot debris, burning his hands, only for them to be healed by the scabbard that still worked even without its owner. The searching stopped as he heard more debris fall, filling him with dread. By now, some of the fires had been smothered by scattered objects and destroyed buildings, yet bodies of those who perished littered the scene, hardly anyone had survived, children who's lives hadn't fully begun, adults who were petrified in death, never to reach an elderly age. Truly this was hell on earth. The man ran to the place where he heard the debris land, ankle deep in mud, blood and other grisly things. He started to move away the rubble, digging for anything, anyone who may be alive. Just when he reached the end and he felt all hope in his heart die, his finger touched what seemed like flesh in another part of rubble. Determination filled his body as he switched to another place and frantically dug, hoping to find something. He eventually found the object he grazed. A small red haired boy, staring blankly at him. Kiritsugu put his ear to the boy's chest and listened. After what seemed like an eternity, he heard a small thump as the boy's heart weakly pushed blood around his body, he'd die soon enough but he was alive. The boy moved his arm in response, reaching out to the man. Kiritsugu stared at it, not moving. The arm dropped, the man grabbing it before it fell. "He's alive! he's alive! He's alive! He's alive!" The black haired man shouted, holding the boy's hand, tears running down his face. Kiritsugu quickly focused the magic in him and pulled out Avalon, from its resting place. It still glowed, showing that King Arthur's mana was still residing in it. Slowly, the man lowered it placing it on the boy's chest and watching it glow and sink into the boy's chest. Slowly, light shined from the boy's body, healing him and giving the boy one last chance at life. When the glow faded, the man hugged the boy to his chest, crying over the inferno and the losses he had caused, while managing to save one person in the process.

o.o.o

The man sat up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and started getting ready. He got dressed and had breakfast, a simple jam sandwich, he never was good with cooking. After sorting out some more things, Kiritsugu Emiya left his newly finished house, the renovation always took a long time, even during a war where you needed a good home to plan your next strategy. Slowly, he began walking to the hospital, the cold air around him reminding him of his purpose today. "Say, Kerry, what do you want to be when you grow up?" The voice of the man's first love echoed in his mind. He had thrown away his ideals of saving humanity that day, too many people had died because of it. Now, his dream was to look after the boy he saved three months ago. The boy was now in a stable condition so he could be adopted, he had no family or anything left so it was either to adopt him or let him be sent to an orphanage. "Oi Kiritsugu!" The man was cut from his thoughts when a female voice called out to him. Driving to his side, was a young girl, Taiga Fujimura, and her grandfather Raiga, accompanied by several yakuza members. "Good morning." Kiritsugu answered, smiling at the girl. She really did remind him of Sherry at times. "You going to the hospital?" Raiga asked. Kiritsugu nodded, having become friends with the yakuza leader. "Get in, we'll give you a lift." He said, getting one member to open the door. Kiritsugu got in and talked with the mafia family, discussing the adoption and stuff.

Twenty minutes later, Kiritsugu walked into the hospital lobby, asking the receptionist about the whereabouts of the boy. Raiga would come by later to pick them up, after finishing up their errands for the day. Kiritsugu walked up the stairs to the desired floor and made his way to the room. Inside were a few children, most still injured but alive, wearing bandages and other stuff. They all stared at him as he looked to the bed which contained a red haired child. Unlike the others, the boy didn't seem to be injured, most likely due to Avalon healing him from the inside, though by now, the scabbard should be drained of Saber's magic. A nurse came up and the man explained what he wanted. "Yes I see." He responded as the nurse went to retrieve the necessary documents. The man walked to the boy who looked at him. "Hello, you must be Shirou," Kiritsugu spoke to the boy. "I suppose I'll come right out and ask you what you would prefer; being sent off to an orphanage, or being taken in by a man you just met?" Kiritsugu asked, getting to the point. The boy closed his eyes, thinking about the offer, before opening one eye and looking at the reached out his hand and pointed at the man. Kiritsugu felt happiness at the answer, smiling before rummaging through the bag he had with him. "I'm glad. Then, let's get you dressed right away. You need to get acclimated to your new home as soon as possible. Oh, I forgot to mention something you should know. I have to tell you an extremely important fact. Ready?" Doubt filled Kiritsugu as he thought over what he was about to say and how the boy would take it. "Yeah, I should do this right now." He said aloud, confirming the reason in his mind. "You see Shirou, I am a mage."

Soon enough, the boy and man were standing outside the hospital, waiting for Raiga to come by. Shirou was now in jeans and a black coat, more suitable than a hospital gown for the cold weather. "Damn, where are they?" Kiritsugu thought, before he saw the black car roar into the parking lot. The boisterous fourteen year old stepped out of the car and ran towards the pair. "Kiritsugu!" She called before spotting Shirou. A gleam lit in her eyes as she started sprinting towards him. The boy looked terrified as the girl hurtled towards them. "Oh crap." Kiritsugu thought, as the girl tackled the boy, hugging him tightly. The man saw Raiga and the crew with him simultaneously face palm at the sight of the girl scaring the boy. Said boy looked like he was having the worst day of his life all over again, being assaulted by the girl. "Shirou, meet Taiga Fujimura, she's our next door neighbour." The boy nodded, trying to break free of the demon teen's grasp.  
"Looks like he'll fit right in." Raiga said, now standing next to Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu nodded, memories of Sherry, Maiya, Irisviel and Illya flooding into his mind. If only he had them all here with him. The man smiled. "He'll fit in well." Kiritsugu smiled before laughing a little. Shirou Emiya looked up at his laughing father wondering what was so funny.

A/N: And here we have my second fic. Yes, here we go, this is basically me writing a fate route. This is gonna be fun. I'm taking some inspiration from Third Fang, however I'm not gonna copy nor make anything that's greater than what he has so yeah, please don't kill me. Anyway, see you guys later, bye bye


	2. Chapter 2: The First Steps

Chapter 2: The First Steps

"Trace On." Shirou muttered, closing his eyes and placing his hand on the pipe. Slowly, he began making his magic circuit, wincing as pain began to build up in his spine, the pain comparable to being burnt badly by a metal object. The boy began sweating, trying to maintain focus as he activated his magic circuit, mana flowing through, increasing the pain. He began to cry out, the pain becoming too much to bear, before he got an accurate reading on the pipe's composition. The door opened, startling the boy who lost focus and his magic circuit shattered, stopping the magic he was performing. Kiritsugu walked into the shed and stared at the boy. "What's wrong Shirou? I heard you scream just now?" He asked, concerned for his son. The red haired boy just looked at him before shaking his head, trying to hide the pain he recovering from. "Nothing's wrong dad, just practising magic, that's all." He said, hiding his discomfort as he felt the pain slowly fade away. His father just stood there thinking. "Well okay then." Shirou just sighed in relief as his father left the workshop. The eight year old had spent a year trying to figure out how to do magic from old instruction booklets he found in the shed, which served as the boy's workshop. "Okay, let's try this again."

o.o.o

Kiritsugu sat in his chair, wondering what the boy was doing. _"Magic shouldn't cause that much pain for a person to scream in agony, unless he was trying something beyond his limits."_ The man shook his head, dismissing the thought, he'd ignored the boy's pestering so far on teaching him, though that didn't stop the boy from researching on his own. _"Unless, he's not using his circuits and is converting his nerves instead."_ The thought appeared in his head. He knew the boy had natural magic circuits from a checkup through use of structural grasping, not that the man used it all that much, other than to get info on certain objects. If the boy was converting his nerves, he'd more or less be playing Russian roulette with a load more bullets than one. _"I'll check in a minute."_ The man thought, hearing the shed door close as the boy walked back to the main house. "Shirou, come here please." Kiritsugu asked the red haired boy walking past. The boy complied, not really hesitating to comply or ask questions. "Sit in front if me, I just want to check something." The boy did so and the man laid his hand on the boy's back. Using magic, the man scanned his son's body. _"It's just as I thought. He's converted part of his nerves, they're healing quickly, but soon his circuits will atrophy._ " He thought. "Right Shirou. Hold still for a moment." He said, getting ready to proceed with the task. Breathing in, Kiritsugu focused and ran magic through his circuits and into the boy's body, finding the boy's circuits. Shirou arched his back, as his circuits were being filled with magic for the first time. Stopping the magic, Kiritsugu removed his hand and the boy looked at him, relaxing again. "There, you should be able to use your circuits now." Kiritsugu said. The boy tried doing so and was shocked when it worked. "It doesn't hurt anymore, thanks dad." The boy smiled, clearly happy with the result. Kiritsugu just smiled and watched as the boy ran off to try out some more magic. The father felt relieved.  
 _"At least there won't be any accidents."_ He thought. before launching into a coughing fit. _"Damn. Looks like the curse is catching up to me."_ He thought, the coughing ending. It was a year since he encountered Angra Mainyu, yet the curse was beginning to advance as the first year of retirement set in.

o.o.o

A barren hill... lit by a sunset that seemed dull and yet bright at the same time. The feeling that it brought was one that was unknown and yet familiar to the boy. It was like loneliness but not quite, more of a longing. The boy couldn't place a finger on the word, it was just out of reach to him. "Shirou.." A voice spoke, interrupting his thoughts. There was no one around to say it, yet the voice was familiar. "Shirou..." The voice repeated, it's voice becoming clearer. "Shirou Emiya, wake the hell up!" The boy was slammed out of bed by a teenager with a very strong grip. "Fuji-nee, stop." The boy moaned, groggy from being forcibly awakened. The girl still held tightly onto the boy. "Shirou, cook something," she moaned. "I need breakfast and no one's here to cook me anything." The boy removed himself from her grasp and got up. It had been a week since Kiritsugu had left for some business errand somewhere in Germany, in the meantime, Taiga and Raiga became his caretakers, though it was beginning to be that Shirou was gonna have to learn how to cook, the fifteen year old had no idea how to work an oven and the mafia boss didn't get up until midday. "Fine." The boy sighed, marching to the kitchen. As he grabbed a cookbook, the latest of investments Shirou had from his allowance from Kiritsugu, and searched through to find how to cook omelettes. The eight year old then started preparing breakfast as the teenager moaned and whined constantly from the sitting room next door. After half an hour or so, Shirou sat down with two plates of omelettes next to him, not very traditional but relatively simple to make. "I'm gonna go to the shed real quick then have a bath, just watch TV in the meantime." The boy ordered as he finished his meal and went to the back of the house. Not bothering to hear her response as he made his way to the shed, breathing in the cool spring air.

He opened up the shed and closed the door behind him. Sitting down, he opened a book next to him and began to read. After a few minutes, he lifted up his arm and fired off a mental gun in his head, activating his magic circuits. He breathed and pictured an image in his head. "Trace On." He said, focusing on the simple image in his mind and trying to use his mana to create it. Blue energy swirled around him, forming a short pole like structure and solidifying. Breathing in, he focused more mana and watched as the energy forming the object stopped and dissipated, leaving a small tube in the boy's hands. The boy waited and tightened his grip a little, moaning as the tube shattered upon more force being put upon it. "Damn," He muttered, annoyed that he couldn't seem to get the object right. Gradation Air or more commonly known was the magecraft that allowed mages to create objects out of their mana. As a simple child, Shirou thought this branch of magic was extraordinarily cool, however it was much more work than he originally thought. So far, he could only get the basic structure down, the density being completely non existent, often breaking down as soon as it was created. That was until an idea came into his head.

Running to look in one of the boxes littering the shed, he yanked out a pipe and sat down, running mana through his circuits and structurally grasping it. He found that he was quite talented with this area of magic, something he was proud of and yet was disappointed with. After making sure that all the information was there, Shirou held out his right hand and activated his magic circuits. "Trace On." He muttered, his mind briefly wandering to his dream of the hill, before an idea formed in his mind. "Judging concept of creation. Check. Hypothesising basic structure. Check. Duplicating composition material. Check. Imitating skill of making. Check." The boy was rattling off ideas that formed whilst focusing on his magic, unsure of what he was actually doing. "Sympathise with experience of growth. Check. Reproduce accumulated years. Check. Excel manufacturing process. Check." His rant stopped as his mana gathered and formed the shape before solidifying and fading, leaving him with an exact replica of the pipe that he had lying next to him. His mind racing, he quickly performed structural grasping, gasping as he found that both pipes were the exact same. "No way." He said, taking in the fact that he had just performed projection correctly this time. "Wonder if I could create weapons out of nowhere?" He wondered aloud, before dismissing the thought. "Let's try this again. Trace On." He said, activating his circuits for another round.


	3. Chapter 3: The Mountain

Chapter 3: The Mountain

The air was almost like ice, visible and freezing even though it wasn't winter anymore. Snow covered the mountains, making it nearly uninhabitable for people or animals, save for some wolves and other predators who adapted to the environment. This fact normally stopped tourists from visiting this place as well as the numerous blizzards that plagued the area, this however, didn't stop Kiritsugu Emiya from continuing his journey up the mountains. The man continued on his way, carrying a large bag with him and continuously scaling up the mountain. He briefly paused for a minute, catching his breath and pulling his coat tighter around him, trying to preserve as much body heat as he could. "Just a little further." He thought, before continuing on his journey. Eventually, the former mage killer found several landmarks that told him that he was in the correct area. Hope filled his mind as he pulled himself into a clearing where the Einzberns had hidden themselves. He searched around, trying to locate the bounded field and where it started, expecting correctly that Jubstacheit wouldn't open the field for him. Much to Kiritsugu's dismay however, he couldn't find the starting point of the field only the clearing. "Impossible. They wouldn't have moved the field or the castle would they?" He thought as he began clawing wildly at the snow, trying to uncover the boundary, but only finding nothing. Panic filled his mind as he began clawing in front of him, sure that it was here somewhere, but no results came.

"Fuck!" He swore loudly, reaching a gloved hand into his pocket and removing a pistol, before firing it wildly in front of him, desperately hoping for some reaction, there was none however. The man sank to his knees, despair filling his heart. He slowly realised what had happened as he thought about it. Due to the curse of Angra Mainyu, his circuits were beginning to be damaged, while he could still use magic, his circuits were slowly atrophying and breaking down, his body would soon follow after that. "Damn it!" Kiritsugu cried out, despair was ever present much like that day a year ago. _"If I had my contender then-"_ His thoughts were cut off. He had left his contender back at home along with his origin rounds, his bag containing weapons he had hidden in a hideout in Germany, but even then, there wasn't any way to get it with him across to Germany unless he used a private jet, which he could easily afford, however there was no real point, besides he wanted to save most of his money to help Shirou once he died, which would be in a few years judging by the curse slowly eating away at him. _"Shirou-"_ The thought of the boy somehow gave the man hope. _"Shirou could do it. He knows how to do magic, if I teach him a bit more than I have, then maybe he can save Illya, I won't be around to see her, but if he can, then maybe I won't die with regrets, and then my daughter will be safe."_ He thought, his mind racing as he thought of ideas on what to do. _"Yes I'll do that. If anyone can do it, he can."_ Kiritsugu resolved, planning on what to do once he got home, but not before planning other alternatives, reaching into his bag and pulling out equipment he had with him.

o.o.o

Shirou stared at the building in front of him, a small white bricked building that was called a museum. The boy looked at the elderly man who he was accompanying. "Raiga-jiji, what are we doing here again?" The old man pulled a grin that looked downright mischievous, yet murderous. It was no surprise that the man was a yakuza leader. "I wanted to see the reopening of the Fuyuki museum, after all it had to be cancelled last year due circumstances." The man replied, careful not to upset the boy, who was slowly getting over the incident, though could still react badly at times. "Also, I wanted to spend time with you my boy." The old man said, his smile more pleasant, showing his fondness for the boy. "Anyway, let's go inside." Raiga marched into the building, Shirou in tow.

"Wow." Shirou muttered, seeing relics that he hadn't witnessed before, at least to his knowledge. He stared amazed at the sights, much like his pseudo-grandfather. Moving off, he noticed some weapons that hung on the rack, old relics of wars fought and buried, only to be unearthed later on in life. The boy stood amazed before a thought occurred to him, an idea which he had to pull off secretly. Checking that no one was looking at him, he opened his magic circuits and whispered his normal mantra. "Trace On." He looked at the swords, ready to reach out and touch one, before information about the sword in front of him came to him. "Huh?" He said, surprised that he structurally grasped without touching the object. His magic faded as all the information poured into his brain in a steady amount. "Hmm." He muttered before turning to the other weapons and starting to use his magic again. Once again, he didn't have to touch them, however more information about different weapons filled his mind. "That's really odd." He thought before closing his magic circuits and following Raiga to another area.

A few hours later, Shirou sat in his workshop, sighing as he relaxed. He had gotten a bit of money from Raiga for today, which was nice, though he did enjoy spending time with the yakuza boss, even if he scared the boy half to death. "Now then. Trace On." Shirou muttered, filling his circuits with mana. He went through his seven steps before forming the image that was in his mind. After a moment, in his hand was a replica of the sword he had scanned originally back at the museum. "That was surprisingly easy." He said, before projecting the other weapons he had, finding them easy as well. "I'm surprised I have the information with me still, unless somehow I stored the information and recalled it later on." He said aloud, his mind racing before he scanned the weapons. They were slightly degraded in quality, however they were in good use. Dismissing them, Shirou thought about it. _"I can use projection fairly well and I'm quite good at structural grasping. Guess that's some stuff covered then. Now then, I guess I'll work on my next project."_ The boy grabbed a nearby pipe and focused his mana, repeating his chant again and focusing mana into the object, scanning it throughout, getting good readings on it's structure and where the gaps were. After finishing that, the boy focused more mana into the object, this time flowing throughout the object and finding the gaps in the structure, filling them and strengthening the pipe. After a few seconds, the boy opened his eyes and grabbed a nearby brick that was left over from construction. Placing it on the ground, he made sure to keep the pipe filled with mana before bringing it down against the brick, causing the brick to crack all over and break off bits and pieces. "Reinforcement was meant to be hard, yet it's more medium level for me. Maybe I'm just talented in this side of magic." Shirou muttered, stopping the flow of mana in the pipe and inspecting it, finding that it was slightly damaged. "Guess I have work to do." He said before scooping up the debris he created and going back indoors. "I wonder when dad will be back?" He wondered, wanting to see his father again.

o.o.o

Kiritsugu shivered in the cold, trying to finish off his preparations. Even though, he couldn't detect the bounded field, his circuits were still in good condition as were his physical senses, telling him that he wasn't being watched as far as he knew. He slowly buried the last charge and rewrote the power so it would remain off till a certain point. _"I'll visit a couple of times and make sure everything's sorted. The bombs should be hidden though, now it's just a matter of time."_ He thought, stopping himself from speaking as the blizzard around him raged. _"I'll head home now and start my plan. Shirou needs to be taught a few things. I don't think he knows all that much stuff about magic anyway, other than those guides Iri brought with her."_ The magus killer started his way down the mountain side, planning on his next move.

A/N: Yo, this is a thing now. Just trying to get the first few chapters of this out before I go back to studying. Anyway, yes Shirou has started learning magecraft and the beginnings of his projection abilities. Keep in mind, he's learning from books and so far he's only gone off from structural grasping, his best spell, thus making reinforcement and projection easier to learn. He's going to learn other spells though they'll be harder to learn as they aren't variants of structural grasping, though they'll tie in more with his overall style. Also, yes he will have access to Avalon fairly early, though I have some plans with it. Finally, about the route I'm going for, it'll be more harem-ish, I know how bloody original, but just see how it goes, because this isn't based entirely on romance. If you decide that you want to drop it cause no favorite waifu, well that's your choice, I understand. Anyway, see you later. Bye bye


	4. Chapter 4: The Golden Sheath

Chapter 4: The Golden Sheath

The man sat up, his coughing increasing. Eventually, the coughing fit subsided, leaving the man sitting up in bed, trying to recover lost oxygen. Kiritsugu stared in front of him before looking at his hands. Pain was coursing through him, feeling like fire was being pumped through his body. The curse had advanced over the last two years, his magic circuits almost completely useless and his body was beginning to succumb.

Pulling himself out of bed, the man went to the kitchen where he found Shirou setting the table. The boy had improved in home life, learning to cook and managing to take care of most household chores. Magic wise, the boy was gifted in structural grasping, projection and reinforcement. Other than those though, he hadn't shown any progress in anything like elemental magecraft which was odd as most mages had one element they were proficient with from the get go, though it could be possible he had something outside the five. The boy us

The boy had managed to advance structural grasping to a point that he could go beyond basic structure and go into detail of the history and mystery of objects, as well as more in depth composition. Projection wise, he seemed to create almost identical replicas of objects, with slight deterioration of certain aspects. Reinforcement wise, he could more or less reinforce any object as well as reinforce himself slightly, though the latter needed some more work. For a ten year old though, those fields certainly weren't easy to use.

"I guess I should tell him about Avalon." He thought, going over his plan. He hadn't told Shirou anything yet about Illya or anything relating to that, only teaching him magecraft without explaining the reasoning. Other than magecraft, the boy was now attending school which helped the boy recover from the trauma three years ago. That thought reminded Kiritsugu of another thing. "Shouldn't you head to school now Shirou?" The father asked, snapping the boy out of his thoughts as he finished eating. The boy looked up and nodded, grabbing his bag and running out the door yelling goodbye as he did so. Kiritsugu smiled and sipped his tea.

o.o.o

"Damn it, I didn't ask dad about that golden thing I found." Shirou thought, slowly eating his lunch while thinking about the idea he had this morning, where he structurally grasped himself and found that there was a golden object placed in the centre of his being, something others didn't have. "I'll just ask him tonight." He thought, finishing up his lunch. He then left the cafeteria and walked around the school building.

The boy didn't mind school, he didn't have any friends nor was he particularly social, but he enjoyed a sense of a normal life, despite one coming to an end three years. Eventually, he sat down in a small secluded place and relaxed, not knowing if anyone knew about this place, nor if he would be bothered here, either way it seemed quite comfy to be in.

There was a small pond over a fence next to the place with a small fountain in the middle of it. The wind wasn't cold, more cool per say, feeling nice and relaxing. Getting an idea, Shirou picked up a small stone and scanned it briefly before muttering his personal chant. "Trace On." The boy opened his magic circuits and ran prana through them, filling the stone with energy. Instead of leaving it there though, the boy started muttering to himself. "Ordinary concept checked, start inputting new mode." He focused and watched as the stone slowly changed form to more of a sharp knife like structure. Alteration: a branch off of reinforcement that changed the structure of one object into another. The boy had come across this on accident and began practising it even more, though was still in need of some more work.

Tossing the stone away, Shirou began another spell, this time focusing on reinforcing his body. Filling his body with prana, the boy focused the energy into the gaps in his structure and stopped sending more prana. After a moment, the boy picked up a stone and crushed it, the reinforcement adding to his strength.

His senses spiked suddenly, the boy turning his head as he spotted a girl watching him from a distance. His reinforced eyesight picking up that she had purple hair and eyes, an odd combination on someone. Stopping his magic, he silently prayed that she didn't notice him doing any magic. The girl then walked away, with the boy's panic slowly subsiding.

Looking around again, he thought he spotted another person but looking again, there wasn't anyone there. "I should go to class now." He thought before getting up. The rest of the day passed quickly, learning stuff and helping the teachers tidy up a little bit. Soon, he began walking home, the sun slowly beginning it's decent as afternoon changed to evening. "Hopefully, that girl saw nothing." He muttered before walking past a small park. To his surprise, when he glanced over there, he found the purple haired girl from earlier, sitting on a swing.

"Wonder what she's doing there?" He thought, stopping. The girl didn't seem to notice him, staring vacantly forward. "Should I talk to her? Maybe, I mean she looks quite lonely but maybe she has friends who are coming to see her or something. Who knows." He thought, walking up to the girl.

The girl looked up at the boy. "Hi, what's your name?" Shirou asked, deciding to talk with the girl from the lonesome look plastered on her face. The girl stared at him for a few moments, trying to look through him. "Sakura." She answered, her voice was quiet and almost lifeless, as though she was giving up on life. Shirou laughed awkwardly, cursing his inability to socialise correctly. "Sakura, that's a nice name. Didn't I see you at school?" The girl nodded and looked down, not meeting Shirou's gaze. "What's wrong? I didn't upset you at all did I?" He asked, flustered at her reaction.

"I'm sorry, guess it's weird to talk to complete strangers, you just seemed quite lonely though." He said, trying to explain his actions. The girl looked up at him, staring at the red head before settling her gaze on the boy, almost as though she was trying to save his image. "It's okay, just no one really talks to me other than my brother and grandfather." She answered, her gaze still vacant despite starting to talk to the boy. Shirou felt a slight familiarity with the girl. He couldn't put a feeling on it, but it felt like she was like him, broken and lonely, only he had Kiritsugu, Taiga and Raiga with him despite being orphaned and unable to remember anything about his past.

"I see, I'm similar in a way. I didn't have anyone my age to talk to either. All I have is dad, Fuji-nee and Raiga-jiji." He said, feeling sad for the girl. Sakura looked up, purple eyes still vacant, yet showing a glimpse of life. "Though, I guess if need be, you could always talk to me." He muttered, thinking aloud, not noticing the girl's eyes turn from vacant to normal, as though a switch had been turned on. "What's your name?" He heard the girl ask, interrupting his thoughts. "Shirou. My name is Shirou Emiya, it's nice to meet you Sakura." He said.

o.o.o

"Where is he?" Kiritsugu thought, sitting his chair, watching TV. Shirou was normally never late, so this was quite unexpected, but it was almost summer so it was reasonably light outside. Still, it was worrying that he was late, considering he was still a kid. He winced as the pain that existed in his body flared for a moment, it was a constant dull throb most times, except when it decided to suddenly increase for a second or two. Despite the fact that the curse prevented Kiritsugu from using magecraft, he was glad that the bounded field he'd placed on the home was still as strong as ever. "I'll probably get Shirou to place a few bounded fields as well, so he's safe." He thought before a knock sounded at the door. Getting up, Kiritsugu shuffled his way to the door and found Taiga waiting there. "Hello Kiri-kun." She said cheerfully as always. While the girl was nice, it didn't stop Kiritsugu to start praying that Shirou would get home to cook her something before she tried to cannibalise the older man. "Hello Taiga, how are you today?" He answered, allowing her entry to the house.

o.o.o

Shirou opened the door and kicked off his shoes, shouting "Dad, I'm home!" before running to the kitchen and starting to grab ingredients for dinner, it wasn't everyday he was late, so he didn't prepare anything beforehand for Kiritsugu and Taiga who was there most days. "Shirrrooooouuuuu!" The response came as Taiga tackle hugged the boy, knocking him from his kitchen. "Fuji-nee, I'm trying to sort out dinner, please, you know it's dangerous to assault the chef." The boy responded, trying to pry himself from the teenager's strong grip. "Dad, help!" Shirou called, pleading with the adult in the room. Kiritsugu just laughed and helped pry Taiga off of the poor boy.

"Thanks." Shirou breathed. "Now, Shirou, why are you so late?" Kiritsugu asked, helping the boy up. "I hope you didn't get into any trouble or encounter any off looking people." He continued, reminding his son of the talks about stranger danger and stuff. The boy shook his head. "No, I just made a new friend that was all." He replied, looking up at his father. Taiga looked up and smiled at the boy. "Aw Shirou made a new friend, that's nice." She said, her tone mischievous. Shirou shot her a glare at this. "So, what's his name?"

"She's a girl, and her name is Sakura." Shirou responded, not really paying attention to Taiga's face as he mentioned the girl.

"Ohohoho, Shirou has a girlfriend now does he? Such a shame, here I was cooking and doing all the housework for him, when he was seeing another girl all this time." Taiga said, playing the victimised housewife card. Shirou shot her another glance that shifted from annoyed to murderous. "Anyway, who wants dinner?" He sighed, trying to change the subject.

o.o

"Hey dad, can I ask you something?" Shirou asked after Taiga left. The man sat in his arm chair again, his eyes closed as though he was asleep. "Sure, what is it?" Kiritsugu replied, his eyes still closed.

"Well, I was structurally grasping myself earlier this morning, and I found this thing inside me. Like a golden sword like thing. I was wondering if you knew what that was." The boy asked, sitting next to his father, waiting for his response. "I see, so you found it." Kiritsugu breathed before looking at the boy. "I trust you know the legend about King Arthur?" Kiritsugu asked. Shirou nodded in response. "Well that golden thing is the scabbard of Arthur's sword Excalibur. A while back, a few contacts managed to find it and gave it to me as a gift of some sorts." Shirou's eyes lit up in wonder as Kiritsugu told him about the scabbard. "The scabbard itself is quite powerful, being able to grant a strong healing factor for those who use it."

"So, why is something like that inside of me?" Shirou asked, his mind spinning as the fact that a relic belonging to one of the most famous myths of all time was inside of him. "I'm getting to that. When I found you in the fire all those years ago, you were dying. Even if I got you to the hospital, you wouldn't have survived. So, in a desperate attempt, I used the scabbard to heal you. It seemed to work considering that you're here now, which I'm grateful for."

"Wow, so if I ever get hurt or something, the scabbard could heal me?" Shirou asked, his eyes still full of wonder, though his mind was clearly trying to process everything. "If only that would be the case. Unfortunately, the scabbard only works with it's proper owner. As a result, it wouldn't work fully with you as you lack the magical energy that allows the healing ability. Though, I'd prefer that it stays within you, even if it doesn't fully work." Kiritsugu finished.

"I see, dad, can I ask you one more thing? What's the scabbard's name?" Shirou asked, going over the information before looking at the man again. "The name? Oh, it's Avalon." Kiritsugu responded, patting Shirou's head before standing up and beginning to walk to his room. "I'm going to go to bed now. Thank you for dinner and I'll see you tomorrow." The father said, walking out the room. "Goodnight dad, I love you." Shirou said before hugging the man.

"I love you too Shirou." Kiritsugu responded, hugging his son back.

o.o

Shirou sat in his workshop, breathing and concentrating. After a minute, he opened his eyes and opened his circuits. Structurally grasping himself, Shirou began scanning Avalon. "Okay." He said after another few minutes, stopping the scan. "Trace On." He said, running prana through his circuits. Energy flowed out of his body and circled around him, gathering in front of him. His circuits began to heat up, sweat breaking on the boy's forehead. "Damn, it's taking a lot more energy than normal projections." He muttered, trying to keep focus on the scabbard. His body felt hot, his circuits being pushed to their limit. The energy in front of him stopped gathering and took the shape of the scabbard, before fading away leaving a weakly glowing replica of Avalon. "Finally..." Shirou breathed before collapsing, his vision blurring black.

The boy lay on his hill, surrounded by a few weapons, a couple of swords and spears lying around the hill. There was a slight change to the dream however, this time the boy held a golden sheath in his arms. It's golden light was warm and comforting. The golden colour was mixed with blue streaks that ran across the cover, making the sheath even more beautiful than it was. It was then that a voice cut through his dream.

"Shirou... Shirou... Shirou!" Kiritsugu's voice broke through the boy's slumber. Shirou groaned before sitting up, his whole body was still. "Morning dad." He said, stretching his arms and wincing as pain filled them. "Ow." He looked around, he had fallen asleep in the workshop. He glanced at the floor in front of him and spotted the degraded Avalon, slowly fading from existence. "You tried projecting Avalon?" Kiritsugu asked. "I have to say it's impressive, though I doubt that could be done." The man continued.

"Well, it's actually quite simple. All I did was scan Avalon then project it. It's easy really," Shirou said, not noticing Kiritsugu's shocked face. "Look, I can project weapons without seeing them." The boy continued, reaching his arm out and running magic through his circuits, causing a small bit of pain. One of the swords Shirou had scanned at the museum, materialised in his hand. He had showed Kiritsugu his projection skills before but didn't feel the need to share the news that he could project weapons without much effort with the man.

"Interesting." The man said, his hand on his chin, lost in thoughts. "Anyway, you're very late for school, you may as well miss today and catch up tomorrow." He said, walking out of the shed. "Shirou, don't overuse your magic too much." Shirou nodded before Kiritsugu closed the shed door.

The boy then sat up and focused again, his mind set. "Trace On." He muttered, focusing on the image of Avalon and ignoring the scream of his circuits and body as they protested against his usage. After a few minutes, the boy was panting heavily, his body sweaty and burning. Despite this, he let out a wide smile. In front of him, lay a dimly glowing replica of Avalon. The boy managed to keep consciousness, though nausea nearly overwhelmed him.

A/N: Right, trying to lengthen my chapters, hopefully this isn't too much. Anyway, yes Shirou can create Avalon now, so look forward to some stuff with that. Also Sakura is here, first heroine to be introduced

First thing, yes there will be changes to the Holy Grail War and the normality of things, including servants. Two, I will slowly build up to the war rather than start it in a few chapters with a timeskip. Of course it will only be a short while so look forward to that.

I don't have much stuff to say at the moment so if you have any questions, feel free to put them down and hopefully I shall be able to answer next time.

See you next time, hope you enjoyed, if not then I'm sorry, hopefully I'll make it up to you next time. Anyway, thank you for reading, see you.


	5. Chapter 5: A Loving Father's Farewell

Chapter 5: A Loving Father's Farewell

The man sat up in his bed, his coughing fits growing more and more frequent as the year passed. He felt a wet sensation fall onto his hand, red liquid covering his palm and trickling through his fingers. The curse had strengthened over the last year, taking the man's vision and motor functions. he could hardly move without support or a wheelchair. He was coughing blood regularly as his organs were beginning to fail and his body was tearing itself apart. His circuits had been entirely destroyed by the curse.

Luckily, he had managed to visit the Einzbern's home a few more times, making sure that the bombs and other equipment were perfectly fine. In his spare time, he had managed to fill several notebooks with all the knowledge on magic he possessed and techniques he used in his prime, details on the Holy Grail War as well as the entire plan on how to save Illya. This way, at least Shirou had knowledge of everything that was to come as well as methods on how to deal with the events. He didn't expect the boy to participate in the Grail War but the knowledge would still be helpful if it occurred in the future.

The boy had improved drastically over the last year with Kiritsugu's guidance, rather than reading old manuals found in the shed. His reinforcement magecraft had improved to the point that he could easily reinforce anything, including his own body, without any trouble. His projections had also improved, with any replica requiring some observation before being judged as a fake. On top of reinforcement and projection, the boy had become able to use alteration quite efficiently, changing projected items into other objects with relative ease. As well as this, the boy had some basic spells that the man had taught him, such as creating bounded fields, seeing in the dark as well as basic hypnosis.

Shirou's Avalon replicas had also improved, showing signs of the regenerative magic it possessed when it's original owner was around, though nowhere near to the extent the original had. He had stopped passing out after making them, showing that his circuits were adapting and becoming stronger, though the projection still used up most if not all his prana. Oddly enough, the boy was beginning to show signs of a faster healing rate, something that wasn't expected at all. As the boy grew up, it seemed both him and the noble phantasm seemed to adapt to one another, the sheath slowly charging itself by leeching off Shirou's prana.

Still, the boy had a long way to go even if he was advancing rapidly in certain areas. He was eleven, but that didn't mean much in due terms, an eleven year old couldn't fight the entirety of the Einzbern household to rescue one girl. There wasn't a significant rush, however the man only had a few more months left in this world, so his chances of seeing Illya again were next to none. Still, he had Shirou, the broken boy who had saved him all those years ago, the person who he was relying on to save Illya, still lived. The father was content with that at the very least. Snapping out of his thoughts, the man slowly dragged himself out of bed and slowly made his way to the kitchen.

o.o.o

Shirou panted as he lowered his body, placing his hands on his knees, trying to calm his breathing. The boy had just gone through his daily routine of exercising and now was onto his magic training, only instead of sitting in his workshop, the boy was outside, facing a small log he had set up. Running prana through his circuits, the boy stretched his hand out and projected four swords, replicas he had scanned from his trip to the museum all those years ago. "Trace On: Sword barrel open, all units standby." He spoke, watching the swords rise behind him and point towards the log. "Fire." He spoke again, focusing prana behind the swords and watching them impale themselves into the log.

Shirou smiled, seeing the results of his work. After getting the ingenious idea of using his projections as weapons, the boy decided to find a way to telekinetically control his projections. By releasing a bit more prana, the boy managed to lift the replicas into the air and then fire them by condensing prana behind them. While simple at a theoretical standpoint, the basic usage was a lot harder at first, taking four months to just lift the projections and another two to fire them. Fortunately, once he managed to get them firing once, Shirou found that with more training, it became rather easy.

Dispelling the swords, the boy projected two more swords into his hands and began swinging them, hoping to become accustomed to them, however due to their size and weight, they weren't much good for him, leaving him exhausted just swinging them a couple of times. "Damn." He said, his arms growing numb as he kept swinging the swords. Despite the fact that it was impossible to use them at this moment, the boy had hope that he would eventually be able to in the future.

Dispelling the swords, he let his body rest for a little while before creating a kitchen knife. Lobbing the weapon into the sky, the boy closed his eyes and tried sensing it, using the fact that it was made of his own prana as a beacon. It dropped several feet away from him, embedding itself into the ground. Running prana through his circuits, the boy focused on it and activated his spell. Immediately, his stomach dropped and it felt like his body was flying off the ground, before the feeling stopped and he opened his eyes. He was several feet away from where he previously was, precisely in the spot where his knife had been. In the spot where he had been was a cracked knife.

Among his small list of spells, the boy somehow managed to add a displacement spell two months ago. Flash Air allowed a mage to displace one item or thing and replace it with another item, substituting one for the other. The replacement however suffered degradation as a result. Due to the drawback as well as the lack of practical use, most mages overlooked this spell, however Shirou being Shirou somehow managed to change it's nature of a displacement spell to one that was more of a teleportation spell. By using his projections which he could track, the boy could use them as substitutes for himself, switching places with the replicas. Rather than switching himself with the projections, the boy wisely used the weapons as a substitute, avoiding his body degrading as a result. It still took some time to perform, requiring more prana than normal to use, though the practicality was worth it.

"Dad!" Shirou exclaimed, spotting his father standing in the doorway. The man looked like death himself, his body was thin and bony, despite normally eating a large amount of food most days. His hands gripped a cane in them, trying to support him, though the cane wouldn't be able to do much if he needed to take a trip outside. "Let me help you to your chair." The boy said, dispelling his projection and running towards the boy.

"No no, it's okay. I was just watching your training. I'm actually impressed you turned that useless spell into something that is actually useful," Kiritsugu remarked, pride showing in his eyes. "Which spell? Projection or Flash Air?" The boy joked, smiling at the man. "Dad, isn't the festival tonight?" Shirou asked, a thought occurring to him.

o.o.o

The Fuyuki festival was a small event held in the old town, near the Ryuudou shrine. The courtyard was filled with stalls offering food, games or other things to sell or do. The father and son were normally accompanied by Taiga, Raiga and a few bodyguards. Normally Raiga avoided the temple like the plague, due the hatred he had for the head priest, the feelings were requited by the target. Today however, the bodyguards were needed in order to help push Kiritsugu. As his legs grew weaker, he needed a wheelchair if he wanted to go outside the home. This didn't stop him from laughing at Taiga and Shirou competing at the stalls offered. "Come on Shirou, let's go to this one next."

"Damn child. So energetic," Raiga grumbled. "Why can't she just be quiet for once." Kiritsugu smiled at the commentary. The curse had faded for now, leaving him without much pain, though the pain could easily flare up at any moment. "They're kids Raiga, let them be young for a little while longer," Kiritsugu remarked, ignoring the fact that Taiga was eighteen. He winced as pain shot through his body, taking him by surprise. "You okay lad?" Raiga asked, concern breaking through his usual scowl. Kiritsugu nodded. "Yeah, it's just a small episode. Raiga, I want you to do me a favour," Kiritsugu said, trying to ignore the pain. "I have a couple months at best before I end up passing. I need you to make sure that Shirou is okay and looked after."

"The kid is almost like a grandson to me. He has become a part of my family just as my granddaughter and myself have become his. He'll be fine lad. Don't worry," The old man said, his voice absolute in his decision. "Thank you," Kiritsugu said before spotting the priest walking towards the two, ignoring Raiga's moans and cursing at this.

o.o

Both father and son sat on the deck, overlooking the garden. Both wore grey yukatas, though the warm summer air meant that they weren't cold in the slightest. Cicadas and crickets chirped as the moon settled in the sky above. "Dad, thank you for today," Shirou said, fondly remembering his first encounter with fireflies that happened to settle around the festival. "It's okay Shirou, as long as you're happy, I don't mind," The father replied, smiling faintly at the boy. _"I should tell him now,"_ Kiritsugu thought, his smile vanishing. The man felt his time nearing, if he didn't tell Shirou now, then there wouldn't be another chance.

"Shirou, do you remember the tales of when I was young and working as an assassin?" Kiritsugu asked. The boy nodded in response, turning to look at his father. "Well, a few years ago, I was enlisted to help a mage family known as the Einzberns. They lived in Germany, up in a snowy mountain. They required my help in winning a tournament of sorts. When I was there, I met a homunculus named Irisviel. A kind, caring, loving woman who game me a home and gave me her heart. I taught her stuff about the outside world, and eventually we married. I guess in terms of it, she's your mother," Kiritsugu paused after saying that, glancing at his son. The red haired boy looked on at the man, eyes full of wonder and sadness. Shirou had never had a mother figure in his life before, so calling Iri his mother was a little bit unexpected.

"Anyway, after marrying, Iri and I had a daughter named Illyasviel. She was small, kind, caring just like her mother, though inherited the competitive spirit I had as a child. After eight years of being together, Iri and I left in order to take part in the tournament. This tournament wasn't any ordinary thing. It was more a magus war, where seven masters fought one another for a prize. Alongside them were servants, old heroes of legend that were summoned by the masters and helped them win the war. It was brutal, but the prize was worth it. In the war though, both my assistant Maiya and Iri lost their life. In the end, I couldn't win, and the Einzberns forbad me from entering their home. As a result, I lost Illya as well. This was around the time I saved you." Kiritsugu finished, breathing slowly in order to make sure his lungs didn't spontaneously fail.

"I see," Shirou said, his mind lost in thoughts and ideas. "Did you get Avalon during the war?" The boy asked, looking at the man again. Kiritsugu nodded in response. "Then, why didn't you use it on Iri. Wouldn't she have lived?" He asked, his mind reeling a little that he may have stolen what chance of life Kiritsugu's wife would have had.

"She did use Avalon for a bit and it definitely helped her. Iri however, wasn't an ordinary homunculus. You see Shirou, the war was known as the Holy Grail War, where the prize was a wish granting device known as the Holy Grail. It was orignally created by the Einzberns, along with the Matous and the Tohsakas. In order to form the grail this time though, the Einzberns created Iri to act as a vessel in order to grant the wish, effectively once the war started, she was meant to die. Avalon helped her remain alive until the very end, when she should have died long before, but in the end, she gave me Avalon." The man said, not looking at Shirou. "Sorry dad..." Shirou mumbled, his face looked downtrodden.

"It's okay Shirou, I understand. It's funny, she would have loved to have you as her son. It's a shame she died before, though I know she's still watching both of us and Illya." The older remarked, sadness evident in his voice. "Yeah, I wish I could have met her and Illya. We could have been a family." Shirou mumbled.

"Illya is still alive. The Einzberns would still keep her alive as she is a member of their family. Though, regardless of all my efforts, I wasn't able to break in and take her back," Kiritsugu admitted, tears starting to form in his eyes. "Unfortunately, all of this happened because I never let go of my dream back when I was with Shirley," He lamented. He had told Shirou about his father and Shirley, though he never told the boy about his ideal and dream. As if on cue, Shirou asked. "What was your dream, dad?"

"You see Shirou, I wanted to be a hero of justice, someone who could save everyone and stop them from crying. Though, in the end, it cost me everything." Kiritsugu said, letting go of the secrets he held from Shirou. He didn't explain certain things like the end result of the war or the fire, though the letters he wrote contained that knowledge regardless.

"I'll save Illya," Shirou said, determination filling his eyes. Kiritsugu looked at Shirou in shock. "I'll save her and become a hero of justice." Shirou stated, repeating his first point. "Just leave it to me. I'll do those things for you." The red haired boy said.

The broken man felt a weight lift off his shoulders, as though regret had been sitting there, keeping him tethered. Now, his body felt free, almost light. The pain that was placed upon him, had vanished into the night, the boy taking away the curse of Angra Mainyu. "You sure Shirou? It's not an easy path to follow," The father remarked, his words falling out before he could stop them. Shirou smilied at the man and nodded. The man looked at his child, his shining light, his savour, as the boy made the decision to carry on with his father's mission.

"Thank you Shirou."

o.o.o

Three days after their talk, Shirou found his father dead in the morning. The man had passed without pain, his suffering had ended at last. The funeral was held a week later. Only a few people showed up; Raiga, Taiga, a few yakuza members and the Ryuudou family attended the funeral alongside Shirou. The last Emiya spent the funeral holding hi dad's ring in his hands and trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall.

After the funeral, the boy took off, running away and leaping down the stone steps, twisting his ankle along the way. Ignoring it, the boy sprinted away from the temple, reinforcing his body in his grief, increasing his speed in the process. Eventually, his stamina ran out and the boy collapsed onto the street, tears running down his cheeks. Bile and saliva rising in his throat as he wept. Rain began falling, soaking the boy to the bone. Taiga eventually found him and brought him to the Fujimura house for a little while. To Shirou though, nothing mattered, his father, the man who had saved him, was dead.

It was his loving father's farewell.

o.o.o

Meanwhile, in a castle, covered in white snow, a petite white haired girl felt a small tear fall from her eye.

A/N: So, that's that. Kiritsugu dies and Shirou inherits his dream of being a hero of justice, and Shirou has a few spells now.

About Kiritsugu and Shirou; Yes, I wanted to focus on their relationship first so it shows the impact he had on Shirou. It also allows me to show the impact Shirou has on him, being the one who saved Kiritsugu from despair, as such being viewed as a way of saving Illya. This will come up later in the story later and be explained more, but for now, think of both father and son admiring one another cause they saved each other.

About Shirou's new spell; I took Flash Air from Prisma Illya and kind of took it's words of 'substituting one object with something else' at face value, basically switching objects. Sure, it's an excuse for Shirou to be able to teleport, though I think it can make sense and work in the normal fate universe. Sorry if I've somehow managed to irritate you with that.

And yes; it's the countdown to the Holy Grail War. I'm going to tweak and change things during it, though it isn't happening at least for the next few chapters if I can help it. These next chapters will focus on Shirou and the people around him before the war, giving insight into the direction I want it to go. Just don't kill me if you're expecting the Holy Grail War to come within the next two chapters. It will be soon, but not yet. Please stick with me, if you get irritated, I do understand though.

Anyway, yeah I don't have much to comment on. Thank you to all who are with me at this moment and are all reading on, if I've somehow pissed you off during this chapter, please let me know and I hope I can win you back within these next chapters. That's it from me. I'm off to sleep and to go ahead and study. See you all soon.

Bye bye


	6. Chapter 6: A New Mage On The Block

Chapter Six: A New Mage On The Block

Shirou sat in the classroom, head down and staring at the wooden desk. He ignored all chatter beside him and just sat there. Eventually, all chatter died down and the boy sat up, finding himself alone in the classroom. Nine months had passed since Kiritsugu passed away, yet the boy was still sad and frustrated by it. He had started middle school two weeks ago, though the new change didn't do much to help the boy with his internal feelings. Taiga visited him everyday to check up on him, or just to get breakfast, he wasn't too sure with that girl. Regardless, even if the pain was beginning to fade, the evident feelings of anger and sadness plagued his mind.

Without thinking, the boy opened his magic circuits and structurally grasped the desk he was holding onto, the blueprint easily forming in his mind. While he could use his eyes to structurally grasp nowadays, removing the normal limitation of relying on physical contact, he still liked the other method, if only for some nostalgic memories. Unfortunately, the boy didn't notice the door slide open until he felt someone look at him. Turning around frantically, he saw a girl his age looking at him. She had brown hair tied into twin tails with blue eyes. She wearing the normal uniform for the middle school, though Shirou didn't recognise her from anywhere.

 _"Shit!"_ Shirou cursed mentally, stopping his magic almost immediately and praying she didn't see anything. "Um, can I help you?" He stammered quickly, his mind going on mental overload. He knew how to hypnotise someone and make them forget certain memories, though that was more of a last resort in case he erased more than what he wanted.

"Oh no, it's okay. I was just looking for the teacher," The girl stated, looking at the boy oddly. "Why are you alone?" She asked, her eyes not giving off any signs that she saw anything. "Oh, I just don't feel well. That's all," He replied, his panic slowly fading. _"I don't think she saw but even then, that's a miracle in itself. I'll wait and see. If she say, I'll try to hypnotise her after school,"_ Shirou thought, running over several ideas in case she did see anything.

"Okay, well I'll go look elsewhere. See you around." She said, turning on her heel and beginning to walk away, a hint of a sly smile on her face. Ignoring it however, the boy sighed in relief and lay his head down. "Hopefully I wasn't seen," He thought, cutting off his panicked thoughts and trying to forget the event that just occurred.

o.o

The day passed by quickly and school finished. Normally, Shirou would head straight home in order to cook dinner, though since Taiga was away from home today, he didn't have to rush. Picking up his bag, the boy began walking before a shout caught his attention. "Hey you!" The shout echoed through the hallway, it was loud to say the least. Shirou turned to the source of the noise and saw the girl from earlier standing on top of the stairs. "What is it?" Shirou replied, not showing a hint of emotion. _"Damn it! Right, play innocent,"_ He thought, panic once again taking hold. "You damn well know what! What do you think you're doing, using magic in school!" She shouted, her voice not lowering despite the risk of someone hearing. _"Crap!"_ Shirou thought, his worst fears realised. "Now now, let me explain-" He was cut off by the sound of something speeding past his ear. He looked down and saw a small hole in the floor, one that wasn't there a second ago. Shirou turned to the girl who had her finger pointed at him.

"The hell was that?" He asked before a small black hazy orb formed over her finger. "Shit!" He shouted before throwing himself to the floor as the orb shot towards him. He heard the girl start walking down the stairs. "I thought I knew all the mages in Fuyuki, I guess I was mistaken, which family are you from?" She asked, looking at the boy lying on the floor, staring up at her. "Wait a second, there could be people around," Shirou stammered, slowly getting on his feet. "Besides, I didn't know there were any other mages other than dad and I."

"I checked already, no one is around to hear or see us. Secondly, how do you not know that the Tohsaka's are in charge of this land?" She said, walking towards him slowly, pointing her finger at him. In response, Shirou opened his circuits and began running prana through them. "Dad didn't mention any Tohsakas or anyone who may be a mage around here. Please, you have to believe me," The boy began stammering, before spotting the expected orb forming on the girl's finger again. Just as it shot forward, Shirou projected a short sword and slashed at the orb. Upon coming into contact with the spell, the sword shattered, though it fulfilled the purpose of stopping the orb. "Damn, guess the configurations were poor. Anyway, I think I recognise that spell now," Shirou thought. "That spell you're using. Isn't it a Gandr curse?" He asked, dropping the broken sword and preparing to project another. "Yes, and you're using projection of all things. Why use that useless spell? And why project a sword of all things?" She asked, the look on her face showing that she was in shock at the boy's display of magic. "Admittedly, it's one of the only magecraft I'm good at. Somehow, blueprints pop into my head when I need them, namely swords or some other weapons," Shirou said sheepishly.

"I see, so you're a third rate mage. You said your father is also a mage?" She asked, her index still pointed at the boy. "After all, since you people are trespassing on my territory, I deserve to know." Shirou looked down for a second, preparing his circuits in case she fired another Gandr curse.

"My father was a mage. He passed away a few months ago though, I'm the last Emiya left," He answered truthfully. "I see, your name is Emiya. Well, I'm generally surprised that there's another mage in this city, who's around my age," She said, lost in thought. "Alright, show me your crest Emiya. I'll consider letting you live."

"Well, you see, I'm not related by blood to my dad. He adopted me when I lost my family in the fire a few years back," Shirou responded. "I have no crest to show my family name." The girl initially took a step back before regaining her posture. "I see. Well, that's a little unexpected. Anyway, I've made my decision. I'll let you live for now. I don't have time to clean the mess killing you would cause." Shirou smiled at this, glad he didn't have to fight her, though he felt a little ashamed as he noticed a small look of pity wash over the girl's face. "On two conditions. One; you have to share all your research with me and help me with my studies. Two; I get to perform experiments on you." The boy's face dropped on this sentence, feeling his death await him. "Now what's your first name?" She asked, her tone still bossy.

"Shirou. Shirou Emiya."

"Nice to meet you Shirou. I'm Rin Tohsaka."

 _"Nice to meet you my foot."_

o.o

A week after meeting Rin, Shirou found himself at her very large mansion. He could feel the bounded field around him, circulating and detecting any intruders. Unlike his bounded field, this one was almost heavy in a way with prana, compared to the open and light nature of his. The boy was dressed in jeans, black short sleeved t-shirt and a blue hoodie, trying to look casual despite this being the first time he visited someone else's house who wasn't Taiga.

He was somewhat nervous as to what the girl had in store for him, however out of fear of the bounded field, he didn't try to activate his circuits. Immediately after that thought, the door opened revealing the girl who had invited him around. Said girl was wearing a white shirt, red skirt and black socks, if he didn't know any better, he would have thought that she was just an ordinary girl, and not a bossy mage brat. "Welcome Shirou. Are you ready for today's studying?" She asked, an innocent look plastered on her face. The boy nodded, though his thoughts knew that he was inching towards his death.

"So, you can only use Projection, Reinforcement, Alteration and Flash Air? As well as some basic hypnosis? Did I get that right?" Rin asked, looking Shirou like some case study. The two were sitting in the Tohsaka attic, Shirou feeling very very small. "Yes. I'm basically a third rate mage," Shirou grumbled. As much as he thought it was cool being able to produce swords from thin air, he did want to learn some other magic that was different. "I see. Anyway, what should we start with?" She pondered for a few minutes before an idea popped into her head. "You said you could use reinforcement right?" Her mouth slowly widening into a smirk.

o.o

An hour later, Rin was looking more and more like the devil himself. "Why is this so difficult? If a below average mage like you can do it, why can't I?" She moaned, her frustration reaching a point. Shirou just smiled nervously. "Just structurally grasp the object and find the gaps in the making. Then fill them with prana," He replied, feeling his death approaching him. For the last hour, Shirou had been teaching Rin how to reinforce a walking stick. Despite the basic concept, reinforcement was very hard at first due to the effort needed. This difficulty didn't resonate well with the Tohsaka heir to say the least.

Shirou picked up the walking stick, scanning the blueprint briefly before focusing his prana into the gaps. Rin glared at him, as he did so. "Emiya, hand me that.." She ordered, her voice low and angry. He stopped his magic and passed her the stick, silently praying that she wouldn't kill him. She picked up the stick and ran prana through it, grasping the blueprint. "Find the gaps," Shirou coaxed, trying to help. After a second, the girl concentrated and ran more prana through the stick, filling the gaps with magic. Eventually, the girl stopped her magic and held the stick in her hands, inspecting it. The boy used his contactless version of structural grasping to check her progress. To his surprise, she had managed to strengthen it a tiny amount, a solid effort after only an hour. "Wow, that's impressive," Shirou said, amazed at the girl's level of talent. Said girl looked very proud of herself as she inspected the stick. "Guess I'm just better than a third rate mage after all," Rin smirked, looking at Shirou triumphantly. The boy just smiled at her, counting down the minutes before he could leave.

"Rin quick question," Shirou said, something catching his eye. "What are those for?" He asked, pointing at two boxes in the corner. One was a large black chest like box, with a small brown box sitting on top of it. Rin looked in the direction he was pointing and pondered for a moment. "One's a consecration kit. It's used for determining a person's element. I'd use it on you but I'm still studying on the ritual first, though I should have it nailed in a year. For the second box, I have no idea myself, my father restricted me from looking through it until I had all my crest implanted and could complete an elemental spell." She shrugged, pushing back her sleeve to show Shirou the crest embedded on her arm. "It's all here now, though it hurts like a bitch when being transplanted," She said, running prana through it briefly, exposing it to him. The boy looked at it in awe, his eyes sparkling. "What's your element?" Shirou asked, looking at Rin in the eyes.

"Oh, I'm something called an average one, basically I have all five elements at my disposal," She proudly stated, her chest puffing out a little in pride. Shirou just looked away, regretting the question as it boosted the girl's ego. "Don't you have to finish learning reinforcement Rin?" He asked slyly, earning a glare from the girl.

A/N: Right, there's another chapter sorted. Shirou and Rin have now met and Shirou's now teaching Rin reinforcement. Oh and he's in the attic, that's about it.

About Rin, she's twelve at the moment, bossy but more impatient than her seventeen year old self so that's why she's threatening to kill Shirou. Though, she isn't gonna be bitchy most of the time, hopefully, I make no promises.

Right, now I have to talk about the dreaded comments about Shirou and Flash Air. Oh boy here we go.

1) I did not intend for Shirou to be like Minato Namikaze. Not even close, I forgot he had that ability until the comments pointed it out. I don't watch Naruto guys, just FYI. Not really a fan of it that's all. Thank you though for pointing it out because I realise that looking in from it, Flash Air is pretty much a cop out here. I kind of regret putting it in at the moment, but I do have plans for it in the near future. The main reason I put it in is just so Shirou could have something of use in the war without pulling some ultra special weapon out of my ass for him to use. I do have plans for him in the future though, so don't worry.

2) Shirou won't get any new magic circuits. He has twenty seven magic circuits, no more, no less. The only difference is that they're fully functional and can hold 20-30 units of prana per circuit, rather than the 10 units of prana his circuits can hold during the original visual novel.

3) I'm sorry if this is a bit boring, this chapter was just to for Shirou to meet Rin and that's that. The next chapter will have a lot more interesting stuff I promise you. Also Sakura is being reintroduced after not having her in the story for the past two chapters, way to go me, forgot one of the main characters, oops. Anyway hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, if you disliked it, I'm sorry and I hope you stick around for me to bring you back. Have a good day and I'll see you all, next time.


	7. Chapter 7:Swords,Bows,etc

Chapter Seven: Swords, Bows, Mages, Friends and A Hungry Tiger Between Them

 **A/N: Title won't fit dammit.**

"20, 21, 22, 23, 24..."

The boy sat on a lone hill, around him, swords and other weapons impaled themselves into the ground, waiting for someone to pick them up and wield them. They called out to the occupier of the hill, begging him for their chance to deliver justice to the world.

"35, 36, 37, 38..."

In the boy's arms, he cradled a glowing blue and gold sheath, its voice not asking for him to wield it. Instead, it longed for the blade that would rest in its bosom once more, waiting for the day where the blade would lead the way to the island of legend.

"40.." Shirou breathed out, sweat dripping down his forehead and body as he shuffled from his position and sat down. Slowly, the boy slowed his breathing and returned his pulse to its regular pace. While tiresome, the boy found ease in exercising daily, allowing his body to improve and develop, becoming stronger as a result. It also helped his body adjust to the development of his circuits, both improving as Shirou worked on them.

Bringing his hand up, the boy opened his circuits and projected an ordinary sword. At first glance, the sword looked normal and sturdy, however upon closer observation, the blade was quite brittle, easily cracking or breaking if enough force was used. Ordinarily, the swords that he produced and used were replicas that the boy had seen in person, however when using projection to create anything from scratch, he messed up on configurations or other properties the item may have. It had been a few years since he had first produced a sword, however he couldn't figure out the actual steps he had used to get the measurements.

Interestingly enough, once Rin had learnt how to do the consecration ritual properly, they found that he possessed no ordinary element, rather he had no known element whatsoever. Whilst disheartening at first, Shirou soon decided that he'd stick with what he was mainly good at, focusing on projection and reinforcement. Rin had taught him several basic spells, such as making bounded fields and stronger hypnosis, however those were more or less the only other spells he had in his arsenal, along with the basic two and flash air.

After a moment of pondering, he thought back to the time he had produced his first sword, something there clicked with him. "Hmmm, I wonder," He muttered before glossing over several ideas. After a moment, an idea flashed past his eyes. "Trace On," He muttered, firing the gun in his head and beginning his spell. After a moment, he found a sword in his hands, one that he had seen at another small event. He dismissed it and summoned another weapon, checking it before dismissing it once again. He repeated this several times before dismissing the projection one final time. Confident, he pondered one more moment and fired the mental gun in his head.

"Trace On." He muttered and began reciting a list in his head. _"Judging concept of creation. Hypothesising basic structure. Duplicating composition material. Imitating skill of making. Sympathise with experience of growth. Reproduce accumulated years. Excel manufacturing process. Trace Off."_ He stared at the weapon he had made in his hand and scanned it briefly, checking the blueprint. After checking it a few more times, he smiled. The sword in his hand wasn't a replica of one he had seen, instead it was one that he had created himself. By checking what he was doing when projecting certain weapons, the boy caught onto the seven steps he had instinctively used, and used them consciously, aiding in the creation of his weapon. After dismissing the weapon and redoing the process, he found that it was becoming easier to do. A project he had spent a few months on was now completed.

o.o

"Shirouuuuuuuuuu! I'm hungry!" Taiga moaned, lying on the table. Meanwhile, Shirou was running around, trying to finish his cooking. He enjoyed the practise to the same degree he enjoyed practising magecraft, if not more, however when Taiga was hungry, it was a countdown before the apocalypse occurred. Within the next couple of minutes, Shirou had set down breakfast in front of his older sister figure, stopping her from moaning anymore.

"Thank you Shirou. It's good as always," Taiga remarked, happily wolfing down her food. Shirou just sighed and carried on eating, pleased that she enjoyed it, though worrying that she'd clear him out of food soon enough. He only had himself to blame though, he wasn't paying attention to the time and as a result, he ran over with his training. Luckily, he was on school holidays, so he didn't have to worry about running late or anything.

"What are you doing today Fuji-nee?" Shirou asked, picking up the bowls and carrying them to the kitchen. Despite being twenty years old, Taiga was currently studying for her teacher qualification. "Oh just going with a friend and all, nothing much. What are you doing Shirou?" She asked, getting up from the table and wandering into the kitchen where he was washing the dishes. "Was just gonna go out for a walk. Nothing exciting," He replied, he wasn't planning on visiting Rin today, lest he become her test subject for spells.

o.o

"And finished," Shirou breathed out, standing over several runes he had made around his house. After examining all the runes he made, Shirou applied prana to them and watched as his bounded field formed. While his father's bounded field was more than enough, allowing Shirou to detect if a person with evil intent entered the premise, he had no actual defences. The bounded field he had made was the result of trail and error from the little knowledge Rin had gifted him. The point of this field was to trap any opponents inside with several projections, should Kiritsugu's field go off or should Shirou activate it himself. It wasn't much compared to Rin's bounded field nor was it offensive in any kind, but it brought the boy some time to either prepare himself or to flee.

It was still a work in progress though, the first one accidentally summoned several swords whenever someone walked in, regardless of the other field being set off or their intentions, the second collapsed in on itself as soon as it was set up and the third blocked all doors and windows with numerous swords as soon as it was activated. As always, Shirou's ineptitude as a magus was shown clearly through his magecraft. The current field seemed to be working so far, though he'd probably have to modify it some more as he could see that the prana flow wasn't perfect, which would lead to several errors later on, but it seemed relatively stable at the moment, so he couldn't complain.

The boy then stood next to his shed and looked at the wall. After staring for two seconds, he raised his hand and projected a bow and arrow. He had joined the archery club recently and was pleasantly surprised when he found that he was naturally gifted at it. This was mainly due to his magecraft training, however it also helped that he could practise anytime without having to dish out money for a bow and arrows.

Notching the arrow, reinforcing his body and drawing the arrow back, the boy stood there, his eyes narrowed in on a certain spot, before letting the arrow fly. As expected, he hit the exact spot he wanted, the arrow embedding itself into the wall. After scanning it for a moment, he dismissed the arrow and materialised another arrow. After examining it again, Shirou dismissed it and went through his mental procedures, making sure that all configurations were correct before projecting a different arrow. Notching it again, he pulled the string back and let it loose, watching it hit the same spot as the previous arrow. "Well, that was fairly easy," He noted before dismissing both bow and arrow. Now that he could make his own kind of weapons, Shirou felt a little bit of pride in his magecraft. "I wonder what Rin is up to?" He wondered aloud, going back inside and getting changed.

o.o.o

Said girl was currently pouring prana into a green emerald. As a Tohsaka, jewel magecraft was one of the many spells she was proficient in, while her circuits were high in numbers and quality, it didn't hurt to have multiple spare batteries which could be used on a whim. Though, the process was long and tedious, as well as painful. Stopping the ritual, she muttered a quick spell and healed the cut on her hand.

She was glad though that she didn't have to rely on her jewels for magecraft, due to their one time use, the price of using spells would have been staggering. Luckily, she was proficient in other categories of magecraft as well, having various books and notes on other areas, helped with the lessons on reinforcement she roped Shirou into teaching her.

Speaking of Shirou, Rin wondered exactly what the boy was, when she did the element ritual three months ago, the only thing to come out of it was that he had no known element, despite the fact that it was normally impossible to not have an element. _"Still, the boy is a complete flop as a mage, guess it was just luck that he had circuits to begin with. What I don't understand is how he's able to use reinforcement and projection so easily compared to everything else,"_ She mentally debated. _"You know what, I'll go and see him, there's no point in sitting here doing nothing,"_ She decided, placing her jewels in a box and exiting the room.

o.o.o

The girl sat on the swing, rocking back and forth slowly. While a girl her age would normally be out with friends or messing around at home, she didn't have friends nor did she want to mess around at home. Despite her grandfather being kind to her in his own way, it didn't stop him from throwing her to the worms most days, hell she could even feel a couple in her squirm now, though they'd soon stop moving. It was disgusting at times to accept that her body was a breeding ground for hundreds of worms, other times it was almost laughable. Any dream she had of a normal life seemed almost cruel in the face of reality.

That was until that boy came into her life, though she didn't see him often, she had hoped to start speaking to him more, if only just for a little bit. Though, with her curfew at times meant that she wasn't able to do so all that much. Still, her grandfather was becoming more lenient now that she was older. Just as she decided to head home, a voice called out to her. "Hey Sakura, I haven't seen you in a while! How are you?"

The girl looked back and saw the red haired boy running towards her. After a moment, he reached her and slowed down. "Sorry I haven't seen you for a while, been busy with work and home stuff. How are you?" Shirou repeated, panting a little. "Oh, I'm good. Was just messing around in the park for a little bit," She replied, glancing at the boy before moving her eyes down at her shoes.

"That's good," He breathed. "Mind if I join you for a little bit?" He asked, his breathing coming back to normal levels. Sakura nodded and smiled a little. _"Well, at least there's something I can deem normal,"_ She thought, before joining Shirou in the park once again.

o.o.o

"Dammit, where is he?" Rin moaned as she paced outside of the Emiya household. "To think I came all this way and he's not even answering the door. I doubt he has anywhere to go," She complained some more before an idea popped into her head. "Maybe, he's just in his workshop. I'll go and take a quick peek." With that, Rin went to the wall of the house and immediately recoiled a little. "Well damn, looks like he's set up another bounded field." So far, she only knew that he had one bounded field that didn't do much, however from the feel of it, the boy had set up another field around the house. She was almost impressed with his work, considering she only taught him the basics.

"Still, I doubt it's anything dangerous," She remarked before reinforcing her legs and vaulting over the wall, not caring if she set the fields off. After landing in the garden and stopping her spell, Rin looked around and spotted the shed. After checking it quickly, she found it was locked."He's not here then. Is he in the house?" She muttered before checking and finding the doors were locked as well.

"So he isn't in at all. Strange, I really didn't think he had any friends or family to visit. Ah well, guess I'll leave and come back later," She said before walking to the wall and preparing to reinforce her body for the jump.

She then stopped before activating her circuits. Sound travelled from the house, almost like voices. "Shit, did someone break in while I wasn't looking. Shit. Shit. Shit," She muttered, panic rising in her mind. She heard sounds like people walking towards the garden. "I'll just deal with them quickly and make a runner afterwards," She decided before crouching round the side of the house, hoping to not be spotted. The sound of the door being opened alerted her to their presence.

"1,2...3!" She thought before rushing forward, picturing the knife entering her heart and readying a large gandr curse. "Take this you bastards!" She yelled, pointing her hand at the people standing in the garden, only noticing the red and purple hair of the two people as she fired the curse.

Time slowed down, Rin noticed her mistake as she fired the curse at Shirou and someone she didn't recognise at first. She panicked, seeing the large black and red orb hurtle towards the two, both as shocked as she was. Time slowed down, the only thing Rin could do was fire another curse to counteract the first, though there was no time and the risk of it adding to the curse was high. Time slowed down, as she saw the boy push the person he was with away and raise his hand, firing his circuits up and projecting a single normal sword into his hand and several swords in front of the girl. Time slowed down and she saw Shirou slash at the orb with his sword, seeing it shatter and disrupt the curse.

Time sped up as Shirou completed his swing and projected several swords behind him in an instant, ready to launch them at the attacker before glancing at the assassin and catching himself before he fired. "Uh Rin, what the hell are you doing in my house and why are you firing curses at me?" He asked, a hint of anger present in his voice. The girl blinked rapidly, comprehending the situation as she stared at the swords hovering in mid air.

"S-Shirou, wait. I-I thought you were intruders so I panicked," The girl stammered, eyeing the boy as he looked at her with an icy look. She wasn't in any position to be bossy towards the boy, not after directly intruding and almost injuring him. "Right, that's understandable, however that doesn't explain why you're in my house," He remarked, still keeping his gaze locked onto her.

"I wanted to see if you were home but you didn't answer so I thought you were in your shed or something," She rushed out, panic still evident in her voice. "Why didn't you just wait for me to come back or to hear you ringing the doorbell. It's better than just sneaking into someone else's house?" He retorted, the anger slowly fading from his voice. "I-I, I'm sorry," Rin muttered sheepishly, her face felt red with embarrassment. If her ancestors saw her now, they'd be laughing at her for bowing down to a third rate magus. "Still, thank you for caring about intruders and stuff," Shirou said, relaxing his tense body.

The girl he pushed down slowly got up, staring at the two, the swords in front of her and the others floating above the boy. Both Rin and Shirou stared back at her, terror written on both of their faces. For Shirou, it was that he had unwittingly used magecraft in front of someone he had presumed didn't know anything about magecraft. For Rin however, the terror was not from using magecraft in front of a civilian. The girl she had used the curse in front of was becoming more familiar as Rin looked at her, guilt and bile piling into her throat.

The purple hair that used to be brown just like hers, the purple eyes that were reminiscent of the aquamarine eyes she once had. The facial features that belonged to no other than the one person she regretted losing above all else. The girl who Shirou had saved and the girl Rin had almost hurt with the curse, was her sister, Sakura Matou.

A/N: Right that's chapter seven done. Oh boy, probably my longest chapter if I do say so myself. Anyway, this is probably gonna be the last chapter in a while due to exams, I have chapters for A Certain Esper Anomaly set up, however I haven't really looked at them all that much, but I'll have those sorted hopefully by Friday if I'm able to.

Anyway, exams are coming up in two weeks hooray, dear god kill me. Hopefully that excuses me not updating.

Right here we go:  
1) I honestly regret how Rin came up in the last chapter, I want to go back and change that but luckily I'm hoping this chapter mellowed her out a little. I'm hoping to at least get her less tsudere and bitchy by the time the war starts, I hold no promises though. As you can see here, she is capable of feeling guilt and lashing out, just wait a little and hopefully she'll be better, if not, that's just a testament to how bad my writing is.

2) Shirou revealing magecraft to people. Right, hold the pitchforks and torches. Hear me out. Basically, Shirou understands not to use magecraft in front of normal people. Unfortunately, the first two times, he thought he was alone but only realised afterwards. This time however, it's because he had no other choice. If he didn't do anything, either he'd be hit or Sakura would, therefore he used projection to defend Sakura. Of course it turns out that she already knows, but it's more or less just out of instinct. That's the explanation

3) The harem situation. Right, here goes the best waifu talk. There will only be two to three people in love with Shirou. I'm not having the entire female cast fall in love with him. Rin and Sakura will more or less be the only ones with romantic interest in Shirou, at least deeply. There will be friendships, mutual respect, short lived crushes maybe, but the only two with actual romantic stuff will be Sakura and Rin. I may add one more character, I have no idea, but that will be it. Sorry if I offend any of you but yeah, ain't gonna be waifu simulator 2018.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, hopefully you liked it, if you didn't I'm sorry and hopefully I'll win you back next chapter. See you all soon. Bye bye


	8. Chapter 8: OSPTOG

Chapter 8: One Sister's Plight, The Other's Guilt:

Shirou's face was ash white with terror, his mind was thinking of ways to make Sakura forget about this. He glanced at Rin to see what she was thinking, but flinched at the sight of her. Her face was pale, her blue eyes were widened with tears slowly filling them. Without speaking, she turned away and ran to the wall, leaping over it and fleeing the scene. "Wait, Rin!" He called, but stopped as he looked at Sakura. "How do I handle this? I could hypnotise her or something, though I doubt it will work," He thought, options flying through his mind. "It's okay Senpai, I'm aware of magecraft," Sakura's words cut through his thoughts.

"W-wait what?" Shirou stammered, "You're a mage too?" Sakura nodded slowly, something akin to guilt showing in her eyes. The panic faded from Shirou's mind and he let out a sigh. "Well, I mean at least I didn't use magecraft in front of someone that didn't know anything," He muttered in relief. Sakura looked down however, her expression looking grim and miserable. Mages were known for being antisocial and generally keeping themselves away from any other mages, meaning that most didn't have any other relationship than just acquaintances. "It's okay, we can still be friends. All it means is that we're just more similar," The boy blurted out, not thinking what he was saying until it already came out. Sakura looked at Shirou. "You sure?" She asked, her tone questioning Shirou.

The boy nodded. "Of course, you're my friend for better or worse," He replied, smiling at Sakura. The girl looked at him and a small smile formed on her face for the first time he had known her.

o.o.o

Rin rushed into her room and threw herself on the bed, tears streaming from her eyes. "Damn it, why the hell was she there?" Rin repeated over and over as guilt and terror set in. After a while, her heart rate calmed and her breathing slowed. "Look at me, crying over attacking a weaker mage. Damn it, I thought I would be stronger than this," She breathed, tears still spilling from her eyes. Slowly, she sat up and sighed, letting go of the terror. "Sakura... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm just a weak little shit," She muttered, moving her thoughts to other things than the events that had taken place that day. "At the very least, she wasn't hurt. Thank god for Shirou being there," She muttered before lying down. Rin heard the front door open and close. "Must be Kirei," She thought, turning over.

After a minute, she heard a knock at the door. "Rin, are you here? The front door was unlocked," She heard the voice of the priest mutter through the closed door. Sighing, Rin turned around so her response wasn't muffled by the bed. "I'm here. Just leave me alone for a bit," She replied before turning over again. "Why does he always come at the worst times?" She wondered.

o.o.o

Kirei turned away from the door and went downstairs, double checking everything was fine in the house. Although he generally didn't care about the house, he still respected his master's wishes of taking care of his daughter and her home. Though, with the rate he was going, Kirei would end up getting rid of almost all land under the Tohsaka name. After a while, Kirei left to check on the church. When he arrived, he found things weren't what he seemed. Instead of being empty as per normal, a lone figure sat on one of the benches. "Took you long enough Kotomine, I was beginning to get tired of waiting," The figure spoke, his voice cocky and yet charismatic at the same time.

"Gilgamesh, what brings you here? Last I checked you were in the US somewhere," Kirei answered, walking to the man. Gilgamesh let out a small laugh and sat up, letting his golden blonde hair fall in front of his eyes. "I grew bored with them eventually," The king answered. "Anyway, I saw your charge run past me earlier. She seemed upset. Did you do anything I wonder?" The king of heroes asked, a smile plastered on his face still.

Kirei looked at Gilgamesh. "No, I wasn't aware of anything like that, maybe she got into a fight with a friend," The priest replied, sounding monotonous despite the joy flowing through him. "I see you're still as fucked up as ever," The king muttered slyly, smiling at the priest, who had a smile etched on his face as well.

o.o.o

"Trace On." Shirou fired the gun in his head and ran prana through his circuits, producing a sword. After a second, he produced a bow and looked at the sword. Running prana through the sword, he saw the sword contort and twist, becoming thinner. It now looked more like an arrow than a sword. Notching it and bringing the string back, he ran more prana through the bow and reinforced it, hoping to increase the durability. After a second, he fired the arrow, the bow shattering as the arrow was released. Instead of shooting forward, the arrow dropped a few milliseconds afterwards.

"Damn," Shirou muttered, "third one this week." Shirou dismissed the arrow and the pieces of bow that lay on the ground. His hands were raw and bleeding, though the damage wasn't anything too bad. "Next time, I'll have to remember to wear gloves," Shirou muttered as he grabbed the first aid kit he had next to him, wrapping bandages around his hands.

"Right, here goes nothing," Shirou said, breathing in. "I am..." Thoughts flooded through his mind, of Rin, Sakura, Kiritsugu, Taiga, Raiga, the land in his dreams and Avalon. "The bone of my sword." For a moment, nothing happened, no response had come from his body or circuits. Shirou blinked before pain filled his mind. He cried out as blades emerged from the back of his hand. He watched as the blades spread throughout his hand and grew on his fingers, blood flowing through the gaps before stopping. While painful, Shirou watched in amazement as the blades emerged from his wrist and slowly spread towards his elbow.

Growing scared, the boy pictured the blades stopping, the protrusions bending to his will and stopping their assault on his body. The pain faded and Shirou stared at his left arm, now coated in layers of metal blades. When he moved it, the limb made a screeching metallic sound. The feeling of amazement Shirou had though was accompained by the feeling of fear. Staring at the metal coating reminded him of death in a way. Curling the limb into a fist like shape, he focused on the end and watched as four blades protruded from where his knuckles would have been. "Talk about being Wolverine," Shirou said before focusing on the arm and running prana through it, scanning it. Instead of being a metal coating like he originally thought, it was more like his arm was replaced in a way, his skin and muscles turning into metal.

Looking at the arm, he wished for it to return back to normal. After a moment, the metal around his arm cracked and broke apart, leaving his limb perfectly intact and normal once more. After moving it and scanning it briefly, he found everything was perfectly normal. What was once steel and other metals was now back to being flesh and bone, blood pumping through veins.

It had been four days since the incident with Sakura. He hadn't seen Rin for those four days, and Sakura was busy helping her grandfather. Still, he kept himself busy finishing holiday homework and practising magecraft. Over the last week, he had come up with several ideas for his projections. Some were easy to make such as using swords as arrows, though the problem was with finding a strong enough bow that could launch the thing without breaking.

Projecting a short spear, Shirou went to the back of the garden and wrote some runes into the dirt. After finishing that, he ran prana through them and created a small bounded field around him. Remembering the blueprint of an archery target, Shirou projected one and then backed away from it. He then projected a bow and a sleek jet black arrow. Notching it and drawing it back, he breathed and aimed for the center. Instead of releasing it though, he took a second and focused more prana into it. After that, he released the arrow and activated the spell. Prana shot from the arrow and pushed it forward increasing the velocity. It punctured the target and hit the bounded field wall Shirou had set up.

"Well, that was certainly fast," Shirou noted, pleased with how that worked out. By using the same method he used to fire projections from the air, he managed to create a prana burst that he could release once the arrow was fired, pushing it further and increasing its speed. This experiment also proved useful for testing the qualities of his bounded fields. Seeing that the arrow just managed to pierce a little bit of the field, showed that his progress in that field was improving. "Still, I wonder how long it will last," Shirou said, projecting another arrow into his hands.

Drawing back the bow, Shirou once again ran prana through the arrow and let go of the string, firing the arrow and releasing the prana inside of it. Instead of speeding up however, multiple copies of the arrow materialised around the arrow and hit the bounded field. The field remained still, though it was slowly fading. By using more projection, Shirou replicated the arrow several times over once it was fired, though the copies were hollow and would break on impact, due to Shirou not taking the same effort he did with all his other projections.

Finally, Shirou projected one more arrow. He repeated the same process as before and fired the arrow. When it hit the bounded field however, the arrow exploded on impact, destroying the field in the process, though luckily, it didn't damage the wall. This time, the prana forced into the arrow caused it to explode on contact with an object. All three spells were more based on practical work rather than theoretical, though for Shirou, the spells were perfect.

Dismissing the bow, he stepped inside his workshop and sighed. Glancing at some of the boxes left over from the renovation around the magic circle, an impulse to search though them came over him. Opening up one, he found a few books and other things of little interest. He opened another and found a strange wooden box held inside. Drawing it out, Shirou looked at it and scanned it quickly. Whatever the box was, it was sealed with magecraft, stopping it from being opened.

Projecting a short sword, Shirou swung the weapon towards the box. As expected, as soon as the blade came into contact with the box, it shattered apart and dissipated. Touching the box, Shirou ran prana around it and tried overloading the field to little effect. The bounded field dispersed and nullified any prana that tried interfering with it. "Right, I doubt I have anything else could open the box, altering the field wouldn't do jack and reversing the field could only be done by someone who was at an equal or higher level than the original mage who made this, who was either Kiritsugu or Irisviel, likely the former as the boxes were put there after Iri died.

Pondering who could open the box, his thoughts focused on one individual. "No, I'm not asking her. What about Sakura? No, I don't actually know how powerful she is yet, nor do I want to. She could be as strong as Rin or as weak as me," He sighed before thinking more. Eventually, he gave up. "Rin it is."

o.o

"Well, didn't expect you to pop round Emiya. What do I owe the favour after almost injuring you?" Rin asked, mock guilt in her voice. Shirou sat on the floor in her room, feeling kinda sheepish. "I was wondering if you could help me?" The boy asked, looking down slightly for whatever reason, it just felt like the right thing to do. Rin sighed and stood up. "What is it? Also why are you looking down? Nothing what happened was your fault. If anything, I should be thanking you for stopping any damage to that girl and not blowing my cover." Shirou looked up, the girl's voice had shifted from a sarcastic tone to one that was more nicer and straightforward.

Deciding not to say anything that may upset Rin, Shirou reached into his bag and brought out the box. "It's sealed with prana and nothing I do can open it. As someone who specialises in storing prana into objects, I thought you would be a good person to ask," Shirou said, passing the box to her. "Not a total lie," He added mentally. The girl took the box and examined it, copying Shirou and casting a grasping spell before placing the box on her lap.

"Yep, a good thing you did come to me, the spell used is certainly a strong one, however, I can easily force it open," Rin remarked, inhaling briefly before putting her hands onto the box and focusing. "Wiese offen!" With the chant, Rin poured prana into the box and slowly forced her way through the field, overriding the nullification effect with brute force, once that was removed, she dispersed the field and broke through it. "There, it should be easy to open now. I have to say though, it wasn't that hard to get rid of, however I can see why it would give you trouble, hell it would give most mages trouble," Rin said, handing the box to Shirou.

"Thank you Rin. Now, let's see what's inside," Shirou said, freeing the catch that held the box together. He then lifted the lid and anticipated the contents kept inside.

A/N: Ha, cliffhanger. I got you guys good. Just kidding. Right, I'm gonna give a shout out to hyperomegasonic for the lovely ideas he offered and all advice given. Even if I piss you off by not using all, I just want to say thank you so much and that I've adapted one of your ideas so far so yeah, thank you. Anyway, yes there is something important in the box and yes, you're gonna find out next time, how cliché.

Anyway, yes Shirou has a few new spells, which are more or less just extra ways of dealing damage, they won't be any overpowered gimmick given to him. Also Sakura is now aware of Shirou knowing magecraft and Rin is slowly showing her softer side to Shirou. That's about it for now. The holy grail war will be here within the next 5-8 chapters if I'm able to get to that point, if not 10-11 chapters before the war officially starts.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have enjoyed it. As always, if I have upset you, feel free to put it down and I hope I can make it up to you next time. Bye, see you guys soon


	9. Chapter 9: Hidden Truths

**This has now been edited and corrected, sorry for the original chapter, that was entirely my bad and won't happen again. I'm very very sorry. Hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 9: Hidden Truths

"What is this?" Rin muttered, gazing at the box. The top was removed, revealing a large book, held together by a leather clasp similar to the one on the box. Next to it sat a small box, though it wasn't sealed with prana this time. Shirou removed the large book and read the words on top. " _For Shirou._ " The boy looked at Rin, mentally willing for her approval. Rin nodded, moving to sit next to Shirou so she could see the contents of the book. Breathing deeply, Shirou opened the cover and read the words inside.

 _"To Shirou, I know that by the end of this message, you'll have a lot of questions, but read carefully and hopefully you'll see the answers laid out to you. You're a smart kid, hell you're even brighter than I am, so_ this _book should come in handy for you. Most of what's inside are spells and other magecraft I learned or witnessed that could help you. I know your specialty is mostly projection and reinforcement magecraft so most of this stuff can be easily applicable to you. For now though, I'll give information about all my life and what ends up killing me in the near future."_

 _"To begin, I guess I'll talk about my family. I know I told you about my history of being an assassin, or at least some of the lesser gory and dark stuff about it. As with everything in the world, my start as an assassin began once I killed my father. My father, Norikata Emiya, was a magus who was researching ways to stop time through magecraft and to manipulate it. For the most part, he was a good father to me, however as it goes, a magus only cares about his family and nothing else. This mindset resulted in turning almost every resident of the island we were staying at into a dead apostle."_ Both Rin and Shirou shivered at this, one dead apostle was scary enough, a whole island was definitely something to be feared. _"This resulted in my first love, Shirley, becoming one and forcing me to kill her. After this, I was saved by a freelance assassin named Natalia Kaminski. Upon finding out what my father had done, I found him and killed him, thus beginning my path as an assassin."_

" _Natalia then took me under her wing and taught me all she knew about this kind of job. Together, we killed so many mages and other beings as pseudo enforcers, as you will. To me, Natalia was like my mother, she clothed and raised me from nothing, giving me a home and a reason to live. Of course, my dream was to be a hero of justice but she was still the one who helped me to my goal. Eventually though, parents and their children have to part ways and on an apostle hunt, things went awry. The apostle had managed to sneak onto a plane and transform all but one of the inhabitants into dead apostles. The one exception was Natalia, who managed to kill the original apostle before barricading herself in the plane's cockpit to escape the hords of dead apostles. Despite everything, we still talked like normal, happy and hopeful, however we both knew it was impossible for her to make it back alive. With a steady aim, I pulled the trigger on the rocket launcher I had and killed her. This became my most famous feat as an assassin, though none knew the true story of it, all except for you now."_

Shirou wasn't sure he wanted to go on reading, through this last letter, his father was revealing everything that was left unspoken, filling in the gaps as to what happened with in the past to his father. It was sad, Shirou had guessed that Kiritsugu had a bad past, but he never expected this level of tragedy. "Why me then? If anything, I should just be a mirror to him, a refection of his past self. A self who had suffered endlessly for his dream," Shirou closed his eyes in frustration, trying to stop the tears leak out of his eyes. He then opened them, continuing to read. The letter divulged information on Maiya Hisau, Kiritsugu's assistant and the eventual meeting of Irisiviel and the birth of Illya. All three of them were described as _"his precious treasures."_

 _"This is where I tell you about the Holy Grail War. Now I may have told you this before my death but as of writing this, I haven't so yeah it's best to just detail it here."_ The letter then read off details Shirou already knew, and what Rin knew as well considering her passive reaction as she continued reading. The letter read off about all the masters who participated in the Grail War. A few paragraphs detailing Kayneth Archibald, a serial killer who was unnamed and who threatened the war and Fuyuki itself through his actions.

It went onto discuss the other combatants before mentioning a few names. The first being _'Tokomi Tohsaka'_ who caused Rin to stand up, blood rushing to her face in anger as she prepared a large Finn curse to decimate the book. After a five minute game of tag, Shirou finally managed to calm Rin down after showing her the paragraph which described Kiritsugu finding Tokomi already dead, thus leaving him guiltless of her father's death. The second name mentioned was _'Kariya Matou.'_ This name didn't cause Rin to have another burst of anger, but instead caused the opposite reaction with tears beginning to run down her face, though Shirou couldn't coax the answer out of her.

The final name mentioned was _'Kirei Kotomine.'_ This one caused both Shirou and Rin to pay immediate attention to the letter. It went onto discuss the many ways Kirei was more of an unstoppable monster than a human, the theories that he killed both Tokomi and Kariya as well as the fact of causing Irisviel's death. The letter continued detailing the story of the grail war, Maiya's death and the final showdown between Kiritsugu and Kirei, resulting in Kiritsugu being submerged in the grail's mud.

 _"The mud showed me a world that fulfilled my dream. The utopia I sought... was a world where only Irisviel, Illya and I existed. This world was shown not by the grail, but by the monster dwelling inside. This monster was named Angra Mainyu, all the world's evils. By wishing upon it, the grail would only cause destruction to create the miracle, not working around it and coming up with a peaceful solution."_ Kiritsugu then detailed the rejection of the grail and the curse laid upon him in revenge. Finally, it concluded with the death of Kirei and the destruction of the grail which caused mud to spill out and caused the Fuyuki fire.

Shirou looked away from the book, tears dripping from his eyes. His world tipped vertically. Despite his admiration for Kiritsugu, the revelation that he inadvertently caused the Fuyuki fire was still a heavy hit to him. It was sad in a way, even though he wanted to save everyone with the grail, he ended up causing the deaths of others right at the end, effectively losing everything he had worked for and everything he wanted.

Shirou's eye caught onto the next sentence, halting the flow of tears for a moment. _"Now I know you must hate me and that you will probably curse my very existence for causing the accident that stripped you of everything you had. In truth, the only reason why I adopted you was because well, you saved me. In that fiery despair, I almost lost myself, but by finding you still alive, I was saved. You were the one who saved me in the very end. Regardless if you hate me or not, I still love you and always will consider you my son_." There was a few more paragraphs left though they weren't anything related to Kiritsugu and Shirou. The boy closed the book, crying for his father. Through the tears, he felt Rin hug him tightly, her face wet with tears as well, crying for her father and the uncle figure she lost.

o.o

Three hours later, Rin and Shirou sat together, in front of a large antique table with the large book and the other box on it. "You okay Shirou?" Rin asked, sipping some tea the boy made for her. "Yeah, now I am. What about you?" The boy asked, sipping his tea as well.  
"Yeah, I feel okay now." Rin replied, smiling slightly at the boy.

"Anyway, what do you know about Kotomine Kirei? Dad said he killed the priest but you know him don't you?" Shirou asked, looking at Rin with a stern gaze. Rin took another sip of tea. "He's my guardian. Despite what your dad says, he's very much alive," She answered, looking at Shirou just as urgently.

"I see. Not really much of a basis for this, but I'm guessing that the grail has something to do with his revival. If the grail creates a wish via destruction, it may be safe to assume that the fire was a way of giving him new life. Though, this is just a theory so I doubt I'm fully correct," Shirou said, his hand on his chin while he thought. _"If that was the case, then dad didn't solely cause the fire after all."_

"Maybe, he was always a bit off. Though, would such a feat be possible?" Rin asked before pausing. "Yes it would. I know the grail war was created by my family, the Matous and the Einzberns in order to open a gateway to the root. If that were the case, then it's bound to have the power to revive someone," Rin stated. "Dammit, I should have been more cautious around him."

Shirou read the letter, focusing on the paragraphs after the backstory of the magus killer. "It says that the grail war takes sixty years to manifest after a war occurs. To stop this, dad says that he's planted mines to collapse the leylines just before then. That should hopefully stop it," Shirou noted, scrawling a few things down on a notepad.

Rin looked at him in anger. "Did you say collapse my leylines? Emiya, those are mine and I will be damned if I let you destroy them." Shirou shuddered from the death glare, clearly this wasn't as easy as he hoped. "It won't happen for a few years still and besides, we have time to figure out how to stop it without damaging your leylines," The boy stammered, getting ready to run away should the girl attack.

"Alright fine. Though wouldn't this take a long time to manage. After all, it was a feat achieved by the great three mage families, they would have had other systems in place to stop any tampering," Rin said, looking at Shirou with an odd look.

"There wasn't a system in place to stop Angra Mainyu from infecting the grail," Shirou retorted, missing Rin look a little shocked at the harshness of his tone. "For dad, the orphans, me and everyone who I failed to save, I'm going to stop the grail once and for all, so that the tragedy of the fire doesn't happen to anyone again." Shirou's tone shifted to a determined one.

"Alright, I'll help you. Just wait here for a second." Rin quickly ran off, causing loud crashes to resound. Eventually, she came back, hauling a large chest. "If we're gonna do this, we'd best take a look at what one of the main people involved gave our family. Zelretch surely must've included a way to dismantle the grail," Rin noted, looking at the chest.

Shirou stood next to Rin and watched as she opened the chest, revealing a large wand like thing and blueprints. "Well, that's a little underwhelming," Shirou remarked sarcastically. Rin shot him another death glare before grabbing the wand. "Maybe this has the power to dismantle the grail," Rin said, opening her circuits and running prana through the wand.

What happened next was Shirou's dream, nightmare and fantasy all rolled into one. Rin glowed a bright light, causing the boy to avert his eyes. When the light faded, the wearing a different outfit than the one she had on. Instead of jeans and a white shirt, she was now clad in thigh high red boots, a red jacket covering a white blouse and a red scarf like cape. Shirou blushed and began to laugh at the girl, his shock being turned into laughter.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" Rin shouted, her face mortified. Shirou was too busy laughing to even answer, causing her to point the wand at him, a large gandr orb forming.

o.o

Another hour later, Shirou picked himself up, his skull pounding from the curse. "Sorry Rin." He said, picking up his stuff. The girl glared at him, her appearance now back to normal. "So Zelretch clearly didn't leave anything about the grail," Shirou noted, looking at the staff lying beside him. Without thinking, he went to pick up the wand, ignoring Rin's shocked face as he did so.

"Here, guess we better put this back in the-" The boy was cut off as images filled his mind, to stagger backwards, his nose bleeding. "Shirou!" Rin cried, running towards him. The boy let out a grunt as he let go of the stick and the images faded. "What was that?" Shirou muttered, his mind clearing. Whatever happened, the wand seemed to have caused it. "Wait, Rin. Something just became clear to me. My element is sword," The boy stated, looking at Rin urgently.

"Did you hit your head or something? I've never heard of a sword element before in my life. Though, I know you don't have any normal element, but the only abnormal element would be imaginary numbers or something. A sword element shouldn't exist," Rin said, looking at Shirou oddly, trying to discern if the wand made him go insane or if something else happened, though with Shirou's specialisation with weapons and his lack of element, a sword element could be possible.

"I don't know how but it just came to me. It just makes sense. My magecraft, my life, the spell I used earlier. All of those were related to swords," Shirou went on rambling, not noticing Rin snapping her fingers and calming Shirou down with a small hypnosis spell. "Calm down, look focus on what we need to do first, then focus on your magecraft later," She stated, glaring at Shirou, who hastily apologised.

"Right, so then we need to keep tabs on Kotomine and on other ways to dismantle the grail without causing some opposition from the church and mages association. Dad gave a list of spells from the Emiya crest and other stuff he knew. I can probably use most to enhance my own magecraft and you can probably use them as well judging by your status as an Average One," Shirou listed off the notes he had, glancing at Rin while she nodded in approval accordingly. "Also dad left some forms that could be used to ship all his old guns and weapons to Fuyuki. Rin, whatever happens, don't alert Kotomine to the plan nor that you know about his involvement in your father's death," Shirou warned, looking at Rin.

"Yes yes I know. Just make sure you don't rush him if you meet him. Just stay calm," The girl retorted, checking the time. The clock read '9.15 pm' five hours after Shirou had initially come for Rin's help. "It's late. I wouldn't normally recommend this with the fake priest being allowed in, but you may as well stay here tonight," Rin said, packing up her notepad and placing everything away in a box that was then sealed shut with magic. "Thank you Rin," Shirou said, standing up and stretching. Rin just shrugged her shoulders in response. "Why are you thanking me? You'd do the same for me as well," She mused.

"i guess, but I'm also grateful that you were here for me. It meant a lot," Shirou replied, grabbing the box Kiritsugu left him. While doing so, he failed to notice a faint blush come over Rin when she mulled over what he said. "N-no worries," She stammered, "G-guess I'll just show you to your room for now."

A/N: Ho boy, that was long. Needless to say, I've just dedicated this chapter for exposition and info dumping. Still, this was probably the most fun I had with this story in a while.

EDIT: Okay, sorry about that, ignore the previous chapter 9 please, I'm a fucking idiot. Right, I really wasn't thinking when I wrote the whole Shirou outburst thing, thank fuck one of you caught onto it (thank you Guest I can't actually name you but thank you very much, you're a lifesaver). Please please please just ignore that, I'm actually so sorry about that, sorry if I pissed you off with that and put you off, I promise it won't happen again, hopefully. Also I'm glad because I noticed I spelt a lot of words wrong during this thing so actually thank you for that as well.

Other things to note; Shirou is being smart here and making theories that are actually true. Bit of dramatic irony on my part, but also to illustrate that Shirou isn't an idiot. In the context of Fate Stay Night, he's an idiot due to lack of knowledge of magic, but he is still smart. Here, we just have him with knowledge of magic and being smart still.

Also, the kaleidostick. It will return later as will the chest. I have a whole plot line laid out for those but for now, it's just a convenient way to get information on Shirou's element. Sorry, but I honestly needed to get it over and done with now otherwise I'd have to lengthen the number of chapters till the war.

Another thing, the letter from Kiritsugu. Honestly, it's overdone and cliché. I know I know. I really hate that it was more or less the only way to get the whole thing across. But side note, none of the cast knows that the fifth war is a few years away. They think it will happen in forty to fifty instead so look forward to that kerfuffle.

Finally, Shirou being given spells from the Emiya crest. Right, this is a big topic here. There is no actual article stating that a person can search for a spell and suddenly know everything about it. However, when looked at surface level, it seems pretty likely that this would be possible, but hey if you aren't a fan of it, I can understand why.

I think that's about it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and if not, hopefully I'll win you back next time. Thank you for reading and I'll see you all soon.


	10. Chapter 10: The High Jump

Chapter 10: The High Jump

The hill standing in the horizon was filled with many different weapons, each unique and powerful in their own right. Looking at them, he felt at home. Whether it was because he was connected with these swords or this world in general or because they just naturally called to him. Either way, Shirou knew that this place was a place where he belonged. Trying something new, he stood up from the hill and began walking around, admiring the different weapons surrounding him. Reaching out, he grasped the hilt of one katana and pulled it from its resting place. The initial touch gave Shirou all the history and details of the weapon in his hand. He swung it around a few times before returning it to its resting place. All around him, the valley and the blades seemed unlimited in number, stretching far and wide. "Guess that's it for now," Shirou said, willing himself to wake up.

o.o

A few hours later, Shirou found himself in class, trying to focus on his studies. It had been a week since he and Rin began planning their dismantlement of the grail, though due to the time needed and the threat of the forces around them, both mages had to keep up appearances of a normal life. Still, it was hard for Shirou when his thoughts were invaded by thoughts and theories of what to do.

At the end of the day, he found himself in gym class, confronted by a long time foe. A high jump bar. At first, he leaped over the first few levels with ease before finding the difficulty was increasing. Eventually, he hit the bar and knocked it flying, hurting his back in the process. After letting everyone have a go first, he tried again and failed once more. The cycle continued until the lesson was over, letting everyone go home for the day. Instead of going home however, Shirou asked to stay and do the high jump again, in an attempt to beat it. After the teacher reluctantly agreed, Shirou went at it again and again, each time failing and having to reset the bar.

An hour later, Shirou was panting, his back hurt from the multiple strikes and he wasn't anywhere close to beating the high bar. "Dammit, this is hard," He thought, his lungs still trying to reclaim oxygen. "I could use reinforcement to improve my jump, but that wouldn't really be much of a win. I need to do this on my own." Shirou's determination shone through once again, as he attempted the challenge... and still failed. As he did so, he failed to notice two people watching him from afar. "Dammit, I just need to get over this." He kept repeating this over and over again, each time pulling on willpower to keep himself going.

o.o.o

Sakura walked along the pavement, feeling tired as per usual. Despite enjoying being away from home, the numbness she felt still existed within her. It was as if the pain of having her body violated had been replaced with pure emptiness. This was when she heard something in the distance, the sound of metal hitting the ground. She looked in the direction of the sound and found a boy attempting a high jump that was clearly impossible for him.

She continued to watch, the boy kept attempting the jump only to fail each time. Watching it was awe inspiring, the tenacity of the boy who stubbornly refused to give in. Moving a little closer, Sakura saw the identity of the boy attempting the jump. Red hair spread out widely from the constant failures. "Shirou..." Sakura whispered, gazing at the boy as he continuously strove for his goal. Watching him, a feeling emerged from her heart, a fire hat warmed the cold in her body and broke her numbness. Determination, perseverance, stubbornness. All three concepts exhibited by Shirou found their way into Sakura, reaching out and taking her by the hand, breaking her free from the shackles that kept her down. At first, her lips hardly moved, then the corners slowly spread outward, shaping her lips into a smile unlike the flase one she had given Shirou all those years ago. This smile was genuine and one that was given to her by Shirou, her hope and future was now given by him.

o.o.o

Rin sighed, her head muddled with different thoughts, some about her dad, others about Kirei and Shirou. Everything seemed to be unravelling and reconstructing into something different with each passing second. "Damn it all. Was better when I only had one other thing to worry about," She moaned aloud before stopping. The sound of metal on ground breaking her chain of thought. "What's that?" Rin wondered, walking closer to get a look. There she saw Shirou attempt a high jump that was obviously way too high for him. It was almost funny how the boy carried on jumping, as if nothing in the world mattered more than this.

Watching him, she was reminded of all the times she spent with him, the determination he had when finding out about the true cause of his dad's death, the issues that threatened to create another tragedy like the one he had already gone through. It was almost sad and yet also happy. Never once did he stop and think about the danger he was placing himself in. He only cared about preventing the world and others.

This thought process forced her to remember how he saved Sakura from her accidental Finn shot. The way he used his magecraft to save someone than himself was unorthodox for a mage who would normally only focus on themselves. The boy was far from normal, but he wasn't insane nor so far removed from reality that he began to want to destroy it for everything it did to him. This high jump bar was his barrier, the barrier that needed to be broken so he could find a way to save everyone.

Looking at him, she smiled, slowly beginning to open her eyes to what Kiritsugu was saying after all. Shirou had the means to save people, to become their way to hope and justice. After all, he saved a man who was close to being a machine and now he had started showing her the way to being a decent human again rather than a self centered mage like all other mages before her.

o.o.o

"Final time." Shirou decided, looking at the evening orange sky. By now he had completely screwed up his back but he didn't really care, this was just one obstacle he would overcome. Taking a deep breath, Shirou backed away and began counting down, unaware that the two girls watching him were doing the same, waiting for the final conclusion. "Now." Shirou began running, immediately picking up speed and bracing himself. He didn't want to go too fast and he didn't want to go too slow, otherwise he'd fail. When he felt like he had the correct speed, he drew as close to the mat as possible and jumped, using the momentum he had built up to boost his jump. Slowly, he twisted his body as it drew near to the bar, hoping that he didn't touch it. In that instant, Shirou knew he had finally succeeded.

The boy landed on the mat, his back screaming in pain from the force before calming down again. He moved his eyes and saw that the bar was still in the same place it had been. Without using any magecraft or tricks, he had finally conquered the challenge that opposed him. He felt relieved and determined, ready to carry out the mission given to him by his dad.

o.o

"Well, that was fun," Shirou sighed, lying on his bed. By the time he got home, he found he was too tired to do much so he opted to just relax for a few minutes. After a while, Shirou pulled himself up and went into the dojo. Once there, he headed to the very right corner of the room and structurally grasped it quickly. "I see, dad wasn't lying," He noted, projecting a small screwdriver. Due to the tool's simple structure, he didn't need to go into detail about its qualities, rather he could settle with a hollow version for the task at hand.

After sticking the tool into a convenient gap, Shirou felt the locks keeping the floorboard down move, allowing entry. Dismissing the tool, Shirou lifted the board and held it with one hand, reaching into the gap and pulling out a small rosewood box. Resetting the floorboard, Shirou waved the dust off the box and opened it. Inside was a Thompson Contender, with twenty nine bullets in rows below the gun.

Even if it was an instrument of war, Shirou couldn't help but admire the design of the gun. It was beautiful in its own right. Below the main box, a shelf was installed with rows upon rows of identical bullets to the ones up top. Looking at them, Shirou briefly scanned them, viewing the blueprint of the bullets and the gun. The bullets on the top shelf were different to the ones on the bottom shelf. The bottom shelf bullets were just regular bullets made for the gun, whereas the top shelf bullets had pieces of bone and magecraft infused, creating some sort of deadly spell.

After placing the box back where it came from, Shirou closed his eyes and went through his seven steps and attempted to reproduce the gun and the bullets he scanned. To his dismay, nothing came up, the gun and bullets couldn't be traced, due to the differing element and origin surrounding them. For the weapons Shirou could produce, they all had the concept of sword written into them, the gun and bullets though didn't possess a concept like that, thus stopping them from being traced.

Projecting a piece of paper and pen, Shirou wrote several notes before replacing the board. Taking the sheet of paper, he quickly ran to his room and copied the notes down on actual paper before dismissing the projections. After a moment, Shirou closed his eyes and sighed. "I'll have to ask Rin for some help with this project," He said, before placing the sheet of paper into a book for safekeeping.

o.o.o

The brown haired man walked aimlessly through the forest, not caring much about what might attack him if given the chance. After a moment, he paused, looking around. A large tree stump lay at the side, insects crawling around it. Even for someone as empty as Kirei, this sight was nostalgic as the first time he encountered the wife of Kiritsugu Emiya and his accomplice. Eventually, he began walking away, his mind now focused on something other than the last war.

"Nice to see you again Kirei. I checked the church earlier and found you weren't there. I presume you're not too busy," The voice of Gilgamesh resounded through the forest. Kirei looked to his right and saw the King of Heroes walk through the trees. A white coat draped over his shoulders in a regal like way.

"Gilgamesh, I thought you already left Fuyuki again. What do I owe the pleasure?" The priest asked, monotonous as ever. Gilgamesh gave a sarcastic sneer at the priest. "Just thought I would let you in on a little secret. The fifth grail war will begin soon," The king said, hands in his pockets. Kirei raised an eyebrow at this, skepticism filling his mind. "The normal waiting period is sixty years, it shouldn't be active until fifty years or so," The man responded, his tone still calm despite the obvious doubt.

"The first command seal was given to the Einzberns, the Association sent you the message around two hours ago. To answer your doubt, I speculate that the disaster during the last war more or less shortened the time between the next war," Gilgamesh said, a small smile was plastered on his face. "I suggest you answer quickly before they decide to assign someone else as the mediator," Gilgamesh warned, tilting his head as a golden portal opened. Without saying anything, Kirei walked to the portal and entered it, followed swiftly by Gilgamesh.

o.o.o

A few hours away, in a large mansion in Fuyuki, Zouken Matou grinned. "So, the first command seal has appeared," The old man noted, thoughts swirling around his head. Worms were certainly handy, they cost little prana and were small enough to efficiently carry out reconnaissance. "Unfortunately, Sakura will need more time to be a worthy master. She has potential but she's more or less useless at this moment. Unless, that boy she hangs out with manages to speed up her development, though I highly doubt she'll be ready." Zouken felt irritated at this. If only Kariya had stayed within the family to begin with, the Matou line wouldn't be suffering a second loss."

"Shinji is utterly useless, the pathetic boy doesn't have circuits so he can't even act as an anchor," Zouken growled, the worms composing his body acted up slightly from the emotion. A thought stopped the anger however, a thought that would allow them to have a suitable candidate, however it wasn't a good idea in the slightest. "If Sakura summoned the servant and Shinji acted as the master, it could allow us to have a master." This thought lingered on Zouken's mind before he dismissed it. "No, it's too dangerous for the Matou line, if Shinji drains Sakura dry, we lose all hope for the grail. I'll have to skip this round," The old man said, irritation spiking again before settling down. "We have time still, so we will see what happens closer to the time. The first command seal only appears a couple of years before the war so we have more time."

o.o.o

While Zouken was pondering the ways he could try and obtain the grail, the Mage's Association and the Holy Church sent messages back and forth between each other, sorting out the events to come. Due to the nature of the war, both the Association and the Church had to be informed in order to keep any bystanders from interfering with the events that followed. The supervisor was decided to be Kirei Kotomine, while the Association was still trying to pick its representative. It was currently unknown if the Tohsaka or Matou families would provide masters due to the Tohsaka head being a young girl and the Matou suffering a thinned bloodline. So far the Einzbern family was the only chosen master, though soon enough, there will be six more masters to fill in the blanks.

 **A/N: So there's that chapter done. I'm pretty sure I got everything nailed. Shirou is beginning the plan to dismantle the grail, Rin is going to help and Sakura is unaware at the moment, that will change. Also, Kirei is beginning to plan his move along with Gilgamesh, Zouken is planning shit. Everything is now building up to the grail war. Thank Christ! I am so glad that I'm at this point in the story. The** **prologue** **is almost over.**

 **Right, a few things to say. I know I've neglected Sakura a lot during this story and that's probably my worst sin yet. Next couple of chapters will be based around her, so that should hopefully make up for what I've skipped over. This chapter was more or less just getting the last few bits out that I haven't put in, so I can now focus on Sakura and how she fits into things and her interactions with other characters.**

 **Another thing, the lack of Illya in this story. Yes, she will be here soon, as with Sakura, she wasn't really meant to fit in here at this point, she will be focused on soon, I promise.**

 **Also one other thing, about Shirou producing things that aren't weapons, well they aren't from Unlimited Blade Works and are simple basic projections that he used to make, so if anyone asks why he's producing a piece of paper, its just cause he's using actual projection and not tracing.**

 **Right, that's all folks for the moment, I'm getting back into this again and gonna try and get to the actual war by the end of summer. Thank you for reading and hopefully I'll see you soon.**


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